Lumber Country, Inc. v. Superior Court

745 P.2d 156, 155 Ariz. 98, 1987 Ariz. App. LEXIS 490
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedAugust 6, 1987
DocketNo. 1 CA-SA 164
StatusPublished

This text of 745 P.2d 156 (Lumber Country, Inc. v. Superior Court) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lumber Country, Inc. v. Superior Court, 745 P.2d 156, 155 Ariz. 98, 1987 Ariz. App. LEXIS 490 (Ark. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

JACOBSON, Judge.

The issue presented in this special action is whether the trial court erred in ordering defendants/petitioners, Lumber Country and Edward and Janet Cermak, to produce certain statements, sought in the course of discovery, which were made by Edward Cermak and a witness to defendants’ insurer. They argue that plaintiff/respondent, Jimmy Lewallen, failed to meet the “substantial need” and “undue hardship” requirements of Rule 26(b)(3), Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure as defined in Klaiber v. Orzel, 148 Ariz. 320, 714 P.2d 813 (1986). [100]*100The parties shall be referred to as they appeared in the trial court.

This issue arises from an accident which occurred on March 21, 1985, when a motorcycle driven by John Lewis Smith collided with a pickup truck driven by Cermak, who was employed by Lumber Country. The motorcycle bounced off the pickup truck and hit Lewallen, causing injury. The accident was witnessed by Jerry Bauler.

Two months after the accident, insurance investigators for the defendants took the statements of Cermak and Bauler. On June 17, 1986, Lewallen served defendants with a Request for Production of Documents which asked for: “All written or recorded statements of any party or witness in or to this action pertaining to the matters alleged in the complaint.” Defendants objected to the discovery of Cermak’s and Bauler’s statements on the grounds that they were taken in anticipation of litigation, and thus were protected from discovery as work-product under Rule 26(b)(3) unless Lewallen could meet the “substantial need” and “undue hardship” test imposed by the rule.

The relevant portion of Rule 26(b) states: ... [a] party may obtain discovery of documents and tangible things otherwise discoverable under subdivision (b)(1) of this rule and prepared in anticipation of litigation or for trial by or for another party or by or for that other party’s representative (including his attorney, consultant, surety, indemnitor, insurer, or agent) only upon a showing that the party seeking discovery has substantial need of the materials in the preparation of his case and that he is unable without undue hardship to obtain the substantial equivalent of the materials by other means.

A Motion to Compel Discovery was filed on February 12, 1987, seeking the production of the two statements. After oral argument, the trial court granted Lewallen’s motion and ordered the defendants to produce the two statements. With regard to Cermak’s statement the trial court found:

Plaintiff has met the “substantial need” and “undue hardship” test of Klaiber and Rule 26(b)(3) in that said adverse parties are hostile as a matter of law under Klaiber, the contemporaneity of the statement ( ... 2 months with respect to Cermak); the statements are sought to impeach or determine the credibility of the party and such statements could be admissions of a party. The Court is fully advised that neither Smith nor Cermak’s depositions have been taken by [Lewallen] at this stage of the proceeding and [Lewallen] has not attempted to take either deposition. The Court feels it is unnecessary under Klaiber for [Lewallen] to first take the deposition of an adverse party as it could easily necessitate a second deposition of the same party after disclosure of the statement. The Court is further of the view that Smith and Cermak are adverse parties to [Lewallen] solely by virtue of their status as Defendants. It is the Court’s view that that finding standing alone would be sufficient to cause production of the statements by Smith and Cermak even without a showing that the statements were made close to the event, are made to impeach, or contain admissions.

As to Bauler’s statement the trial court found that:

Plaintiff has satisfied the “substantial need” and “undue hardship” test in that the witness is hostile (that he is one of the witnesses named by Defendants Cermak and Lumber Country, Inc. as a witness whose testimony supports the comparative fault allegations of the answer) and the statement was made close to the time of the event (2 months). The Court is not finding that this witness cannot recall substantive details about the event.

The trial court based these findings on its interpretation of Klaiber. Klaiber defined what circumstances constituted “substantial need” and “undue hardship” for purposes of Rule 26(b)(3): (1) hostility of the witness; (2) inability of the witness to recall details about the event, (3) substantial contemporaneity of the statement with the occurrence at issue; (4) the state[101]*101ments are sought to impeach or determine the credibility of a witness; and (5) the statements contain admissions. Klaiber, 148 Ariz. at 323, 214 P.2d at 816, citing Longs Drug Store v. Howe, 134 Ariz. 424, 657 P.2d 412 (1983); 4 J. Moore, Federal Practice, § 26.64 (1984); 8 C. Wright and A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure, § 2025 pp. 215-19 (1970).

Defendants have sought review of the trial court’s order by this special action. Since the statements involved came from two different classes of witnesses, a party defendant and a non-party, we will discuss the discoverability of their statements separately.

Production of Defendant Cermak’s Statement

We turn first to the trial court’s order requiring the production of defendant Cermak’s statement. Specifically, objection is made to the portion of the trial court’s conclusion that: “... Smith and Cermak are adverse parties to [Lewallen] solely by their status as Defendants. It is the Court’s view that that finding alone would be sufficient to cause production of the statement____” If adverse parties are hostile as a matter of law, defendants argue, then such party’s statements would be required to be produced as a matter of course and would render the protection afforded by the “substantial need” and “undue hardship” test of Rule 26(b)(3) a nullity.

We agree with defendants that more must be shown to meet the hostility requirement stated in Klaiber than the mere fact that the two parties are adverse. As the supreme court noted in Klaiber, adverse parties are necessarily hostile within our adversarial system. The court went on to state that the trial court should inquire further into the circumstances of each case before labeling a party as hostile. Klaiber, 148 Ariz. at 324, 714 P.2d at 817. Thus it is clear that the “hostility” flowing from the relationship of the parties in the litigation is not the type of “hostility” which will alone satisfy Rule 26(b)(3). Nor are we aware of any cases in which a court has found that being adversaries, without more, is sufficient to require discovery of work-product information. In fact, the opposite is true.

Cases from other jurisdictions reveal that courts will not allow discovery of a witness’ statement without some demonstration by his demeanor that he is a hostile witness toward the party requesting discovery. Howard v. Seaboard Coast R. Co., 60 F.R.D. 638 (D.C.Ga.1973) (unsupported supposition that a witness employed by an opposing party would be reluctant to give testimony because of employment status is insufficient to compel discovery), Almaguer v. Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Co., 55 F.R.D.

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Related

Klaiber v. Orzel
714 P.2d 813 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1986)
Longs Drug Stores v. Howe
657 P.2d 412 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1983)
Hamilton v. Canal Barge Company, Inc.
395 F. Supp. 975 (E.D. Louisiana, 1974)
Gillman v. United States
53 F.R.D. 316 (S.D. New York, 1971)
Howard v. Seaboard Coastline Railroad
60 F.R.D. 638 (N.D. Georgia, 1973)

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Bluebook (online)
745 P.2d 156, 155 Ariz. 98, 1987 Ariz. App. LEXIS 490, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lumber-country-inc-v-superior-court-arizctapp-1987.