Marilyn Gaye Piety Foley v. Drexel University, David S. Brown, Roger Kurtz, and Juhwon Lee

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedDecember 3, 2025
Docket2:25-cv-02103
StatusUnknown

This text of Marilyn Gaye Piety Foley v. Drexel University, David S. Brown, Roger Kurtz, and Juhwon Lee (Marilyn Gaye Piety Foley v. Drexel University, David S. Brown, Roger Kurtz, and Juhwon Lee) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Marilyn Gaye Piety Foley v. Drexel University, David S. Brown, Roger Kurtz, and Juhwon Lee, (E.D. Pa. 2025).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

MARILYN GAYE PIETY FOLEY, CIVIL ACTION Plaintiff,

v.

DREXEL UNIVERSITY, DAVID S. NO. 25CV2103 BROWN, ROGER KURTZ, and JUHWON LEE, Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION Defendant Drexel University has filed a motion for a protective order pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c)(1)(A) and (D) seeking to prevent Plaintiff, Marilyn Gaye Piety Foley, a tenured professor of philosophy in Drexel’s Department of English and Philosophy within Drexel’s College of Arts and Sciences, from questioning a witness noticed under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 30(b)6) on certain topics. Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c)(1)(A) and (D). For the reasons that follow, Drexel’s Motion for a Protective Order shall be granted in part and denied in part. BACKGROUND In April 2025, Piety Foley sued her employer, Drexel University (“Drexel”), and three Drexel employees—Defendants David S. Brown, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences; Roger Kurtz, head of the Department of English and Philosophy; and Juhwon Lee, Associate General Counsel and Chief, Litigation Services, at Drexel University. The only claims she makes in her complaint are that they retaliated against her in violation of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, 29 U.S.C. § 215(a)(3), and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. § 1681. After a motion to dismiss, the only surviving theory supporting those claims is that Defendants Drexel, Brown, and Kurtz retaliated against her bringing suit and securing judgment against them in a prior lawsuit, see Piety Foley v. Drexel, Case No. 22-cv-1777 (“Piety Foley I”), by changing Piety Foley’s face-to-face courses to online without informing or consulting her as they should have under applicable policies, in an effort to drive her off campus.

Piety Foley’s Notice of 30(b)(6) Deposition sets out the following topics on which it seeks to question Drexel’s designated witness: • Amended Topic 12 (the “Settlement Topic”): “Drexel’s refusal, up to the time of service of the Complaint in this instant case, to settle the previous litigation with Dr. Piety (22- cv-1777) unless she terminated her employment with Drexel.”1

• Amended Topic 4 (the “Summary Report Topic”): “The external review described in the ‘Summary Report of External Title VI Review: Non-Discrimination Practices & Speech Policies’ limited to the subject of ‘Barriers to Reporting,’ which is set forth as a section in the Summary Report (second page) sent to Drexel employees on or about February 17, 2025.”2

• Amended Topic 3 (the “Retaliation Complaints Topic”): “The complaints (via formal internal complaint, complaint to OED/EIC, complaint to PHRC and/or EEOC, or in a federal or state court) against Drexel employees from January 1, 2021 through the present for allegedly violating Drexel rules, policies, procedures, practices, and/or customs, and/or federal or Pennsylvania or Philadelphia law, regarding retaliation against employees who engage in protected activity regarding illegal discrimination.”3

Drexel seeks an order: (1) prohibiting Piety Foley from deposing Drexel concerning the Settlement Topic and the Summary Report Topic; and, (2) limiting the Retaliation Complaints

1 Plaintiff has made clear to Drexel that she does not seek attorney-client privileged information or work product for this topic.

2 Plaintiff has likewise communicated to Drexel that she does not seek attorney-client privileged information/attorney work product for this topic.

3 In her Response Letter to Drexel’s Letter detailing the present discovery dispute (ECF No. 27), Piety Foley offered to “limit the formal internal complaints to complaints by and against College of Arts and Sciences (which Defendant Dean Brown heads)” faculty. Topic to retaliation complaints involving only those individuals Drexel deems relevant to Piety Foley’s allegations—namely, Philosophy Program Director Peter Amato, Defendant Kurtz, and Defendant Brown. LEGAL STANDARD

A. Discovery The scope of discovery under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure “is unquestionably broad.” Bayer AG v. Betachem, Inc., 173 F.3d 188, 191 (3d Cir. 1999). Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(1), a party “may obtain discovery regarding any nonprivileged matter that is relevant to any party's claim or defense and proportional to the needs of the case.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1). Discovery does, however, have its limits. Bayer, 173 F.3d at 191. Rule 26(c) permits a party to move for a protective order limiting discovery, including “forbidding inquiry into certain matters” in order “to protect a party or person from annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden or expense.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c)(1). The party seeking the protective order has

the burden of persuasion and must show “good cause by demonstrating a particular need for protection.” Cipollone v. Liggett Grp., Inc., 785 F.2d 1108, 1121 (3d Cir. 1986). “Broad allegations of harm, unsubstantiated by specific examples or articulated reasoning, do not satisfy the Rule 26(c) test.” Id. “Good cause” is defined as a “showing that disclosure will work a clearly defined and serious injury to the party seeking closure.” Arnold v. Pennsylvania, 477 F.3d 105, 108 (3d Cir. 2007) (quoting Publicker Indus., Inc. v. Cohen, 733 F.2d 1059, 1071 (3d Cir. 1986)). It is established based on “balancing a number of considerations[,]” Arnold, 477 F.3d at 108 (citing Pansy v. Borough of Stroudsburg, 23 F.3d 772, 787 (3d Cir. 1994)), including, but not limited to: “(1) the interest in privacy of the party seeking protection; (2) whether the information is being sought for a legitimate purpose or an improper purpose; (3) the prevention of embarrassment, and whether that embarrassment would be particularly serious; (4) whether the information sought is important to public health and safety; (5) whether sharing of the information among

litigants would promote fairness and efficiency; (6) whether the party benefitting from the order of confidentiality is a public entity or official; and (7) whether the case involves issues important to the public.” Arnold, 477 F.3d at 108 (citations omitted).4 Yet, as a threshold matter, “before the party seeking a protective order must demonstrate good cause” the party seeking discovery must first “demonstrate . . . relevance.” Gardner v. Boone, 2023 WL 1927992, at *2 (E.D. Pa. Feb. 9, 2023) (citing Bell v. Lockheed Martin Corp., 270 F.R.D. 186, 195 (D.N.J. 2010), aff’d, 2010 WL 3724271 (D.N.J. Sept. 15, 2010)). In the context of discovery, relevance does not mean admissible into evidence; instead, it is “construed broadly to encompass any matter that bears on, or that reasonably could lead to other matter that could bear on, any issue that is or may be in the case.” Oppenheimer Fund, Inc. v. Sanders,

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Bluebook (online)
Marilyn Gaye Piety Foley v. Drexel University, David S. Brown, Roger Kurtz, and Juhwon Lee, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marilyn-gaye-piety-foley-v-drexel-university-david-s-brown-roger-kurtz-paed-2025.