McGrath v. Nassau Health Care Corp.

209 F.R.D. 55, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14580, 2002 WL 1822397
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedJune 25, 2002
DocketNo. CV 00-6454(TCP) (WDW)
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 209 F.R.D. 55 (McGrath v. Nassau Health Care Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McGrath v. Nassau Health Care Corp., 209 F.R.D. 55, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14580, 2002 WL 1822397 (E.D.N.Y. 2002).

Opinion

ORDER

WALL, United States Magistrate Judge.

By letter dated May 6, 2002, the plaintiffs moved for a protective order precluding any use of a blanket purportedly stained with the [57]*57menstrual blood of plaintiff Sally McGrath (“McGrath”). By letter dated May 9, 2002, the individual defendant, Eric Rosenblum, cross-moved for an order directing McGrath to produce a DNA sample. By letter dated May 9, 2002, the hospital defendant, Nassau Health Care Corp. (“NHCC”), supported Rosenblum’s motion and presented its position on the issues.

In an order dated May 22, 2002, the undersigned set the matter down for a hearing on June 11, 2002, and directed the parties to submit affidavits and memoranda of law in support of their arguments. The parties submitted the appropriate supporting papers and appeared for oral argument and a hearing on June 11.

As ordered on the record at the conclusion of the hearing on June 11, and for the reasons set forth herein, the undersigned grants the defendant’s cross-motion and denies the plaintiffs’ motion.

BACKGROUND

This lawsuit, in which the plaintiffs claim that Rosenblum sexually harassed Sally McGrath in the workplace during 1999 and 2000, was commenced in October 2000. The blanket at issue on these motions was first mentioned at McGrath’s deposition on April 30, 2002. Rosenblum claims that the blanket was stained with McGrath’s menstrual blood when he and McGrath engaged in consensual sexual intercourse on it, and that it will provide a basis for impeaching McGrath’s testimony that she and Rosenblum never had a consensual sexual relationship.

On February 22, 2002, McGrath responded to a question in Rosenblum’s Second Set of Interrogatories by stating that “Plaintiff never engaged in sexual relations with Defendant Rosenblum.” Locke Letter, 5/6/02, Exh. B at 4. During her deposition on March 7, 2002, McGrath was asked whether she “at any time ha[d] any consensual sexual contact of any kind with Eric Rosenblum,” and she answered, “No, I did not.” See Def. NHCC’S Mem. of Law in Supp. of App. for DNA Testing, Exh. C at 154,11. 23-25. That same day, Rosenblum’s lawyers, who allegedly had been in possession of the blanket for some undetermined peribd of time, sent it to Laboratory Corporation of America (Lab-Corp.) for preliminary testing. See Moscow Aff. in Supp., at H 5.

At his deposition on March 25, 2002, Rosenblum stated, apparently for the first time in the litigation record, that he and McGrath had engaged in consensual sex. Locke Letter, 5/6/02, Exh. D at 131. He testified that the affair lasted for two to three weeks in late November and early December of 2000, and that he broke it off. Id. at 150-52. All of their sexual encounters, Rosenblum claimed, took place in a building on the hospital’s property known as the “CEO House.” Id. at 150.

At the June 11th hearing, Rosenblum testified at length about one of the alleged sexual encounters that occurred in the CEO House. On an unspecified date, he claims1, he and McGrath went to the house intending to have sexual intercourse, and McGrath told him she was menstruating. See Tr. of Hearing on 6/11/02 at 13-15. Because they were in the habit of lying on the rug in the dining room of the house during their sexual encounters, and Rosenblum did not want to stain the rug, he went out to his car and got a blanket from the trunk. He put the blanket on the dining room floor and they engaged in intercourse. After the encounter, he noticed that the blanket was stained. He put the blanket in a kitchen cabinet, retrieved it at some later, unspecified date, and returned it to the trunk of his car. They used the blanket only one time, and, according to Rosenblum, he broke off the affair in mid-December. Rosenblum further claims that he gave the blanket to his attorneys after the lawsuit commenced, and his attorney, Ms. Moscow, states that the blanket remained in the offices of Epstein, Becker & Green, P.C., Rosenblum’s lawyers, [58]*58until it was sent to LabCorp for testing. Moscow Aff. at 15.

At her continued deposition on April 30, 2002, McGrath reiterated her denial that she had ever had “any sexual contact with Eric Rosenblum of any kind, consensual or non-consensual, in any place.” See NHCC’S Mem. of Law in Supp., Exh. C at 251,11. 17-23. On that same date, she related, for the first time, an incident that allegedly occurred in the CEO House. She claimed that she and Rosenblum, who is an attorney, went to the house to discuss a custody dispute he was helping her with, and that as she was leaving the bathroom in the house, he appeared before her naked and ejaculated. See Moscow Letter, May 9, 2002, Exh. B, at 229-30. She said that she pushed him away, got her coat, and left. See NHCC’S Mem. of Law in Supp., Exh. C at 251.

During the April 30 deposition, McGrath acknowledged that she had not related the CEO House incident in any court filings, at her 50-h hearing, or on the first day of her deposition, and explained that she had not previously told anyone but her psychologist about the incident because it was “personally so horrible.” See Moscow Letter, May 9, 2002, Exh. B, at 264. Rosenblum’s attorney questioned McGrath about whether McGrath knew that, after the first day of McGrath’s deposition, Rosenblum had testified at his own deposition that they had had a consensual sexual relationship. Id. at 267. McGrath testified that, although she “had heard that he was going to say that ... I don’t know for sure what he said at all during his deposition.” Id. She also acknowledged that, between her first and second days of deposition, she had learned that her psychologist’s records had been subpoenaed, and that she knew the details of her version of the event in the CEO house “was going to come out.”2 Id. at 265.

Later during the April 30th deposition, Rosenblum’s counsel, Ms. Moscow, told McGrath’s counsel, Mr. Locke, that she was “going to request a DNA sample” from McGrath. See Moscow Aff. in Supp., Exh. A at 274. Ms. Moscow explained, “I have reason to believe that there is evidence available that contains her DNA obtained in a fashion that’s inconsistent with her testimony and consistent with other testimony.” Id. When McGrath’s counsel sought fuller explanation, the two attorneys spoke off the record, and when they returned to the record, Ms. Moscow stated that “I have a blanket that my client — which I have been advised that has— my client testified that there was a consensual relationship between plaintiff and himself.” Id.

As noted above, subsequent to the demand for a DNA sample from McGrath, the plaintiffs moved for a protective order precluding the use of the blanket in the litigation. Rosenblum opposed the motion and cross-moved to compel the DNA sample. The Hospital supported the demand for a DNA sample, and set forth its position on the issues. On May 22, 2002, the undersigned issued an order directing the parties to appear for an evidentiary hearing on June 11, 2002. The May 22nd order reviewed the scant law on the issue of whether the production of a DNA sample can be compelled as part of discovery in a civil lawsuit, and adopted the requirement, discussed in more detail infra, that the movant must make a prima facie showing that the DNA sample is warranted, through the introduction of sworn statements and other evidence.

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209 F.R.D. 55, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14580, 2002 WL 1822397, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcgrath-v-nassau-health-care-corp-nyed-2002.