Milinazzo v. State Farm Insurance

247 F.R.D. 691, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 90980, 2007 WL 4350865
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedDecember 11, 2007
DocketNo. 07-21892-CIV
StatusPublished
Cited by42 cases

This text of 247 F.R.D. 691 (Milinazzo v. State Farm Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Milinazzo v. State Farm Insurance, 247 F.R.D. 691, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 90980, 2007 WL 4350865 (S.D. Fla. 2007).

Opinion

ORDER ON PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO COMPEL PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS

EDWIN G. TORRES, United States Magistrate Judge.

This matter is before the Court on Plaintiffs Motion to Compel Production of Documents and Incorporated Memorandum of Law (“Plaintiffs Motion”) [D.E. 21 — l].1 Sharon Milinazzo (“Plaintiff’) seeks production of documents from State Farm Insurance Company (“Defendant”) as part of Plaintiffs coverage here.2 In support of its discovery objections, Defendant’s Response to Plaintiffs Motion argues that the information sought is irrelevant and privileged, and further contends that Plaintiffs motion should be denied for failing to comply with Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(a)(2)(b) and the Court’s Local Rules.3 [D.E. 27-1]. Plaintiffs Reply reiterates the arguments made in the Motion to Compel [D.E. 28],

The pending Motion is ripe for disposition. After carefully considering the parties’ arguments, as well as the court file, and for the reasons that follow, this Court hereby orders that Plaintiffs Motion be GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.

[695]*695 I. GENERAL ISSUES RAISED BY DEFENDANT’S OBJECTIONS

Rule 26(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure defines the scope of discovery as including “any matter, not privileged, that is relevant to the claim or defense of any party.” Courts must employ a liberal discovery standard in keeping with the spirit and purpose of the discovery rules, even after the 2000 Amendments to the Rule. McMahon v. Eastern Steamship Lines, Inc., 129 F.R.D. 197, 198 (S.D.Fla.1989); Graham v. Casey’s Gen. Stores, 206 F.R.D. 251, 253 (S.D.Ind. 2002); White v. Kenneth Warren & Son, Ltd., 203 F.R.D. 364, 366 (N.D.Ill.2001). To sustain its discovery objections in response to the pending motions to compel, Defendant must, therefore, show that the requested discovery has no possible bearing on the claims and defenses in this case. See Flora v. Hamilton, 81 F.R.D. 576, 578 (M.D.N.C.1978); Graham, 206 F.R.D. at 254 (“The party opposing discovery has the burden of showing the discovery is overly broad, unduly burdensome, or not relevant.”). This means that Defendant must show either that the requested discovery (1) does not come within the broad scope of relevance as defined under Rule 26 or (2) is of such marginal relevance that the potential harm occasioned by discovery would far outweigh the ordinary presumption in favor of broad disclosure. E.g., Giardina v. Lockheed Martin Corp., 2003 WL 21276348 (E.D.La. May 30, 2003).

Before addressing the individual document requests, we first review the general principles governing the Defendant’s discovery objections raised in this matter.

A. Failure to Confer with Opposing Counsel

Prior to filing a motion to compel, Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(a)(2)(B) and the local rules of the Southern District require the movant to try to confer with opposing counsel and make efforts to secure requested information without court assistance. We find that Plaintiffs efforts to resolve this discovery dispute were materially sufficient. See Exhibit A [D.E. 27-2], Therefore, we will address the merits of the issues raised.

B. Overbroad Request

Objections which state that a discovery request is “vague, overly broad, or unduly burdensome” are, by themselves, meaningless, and are deemed without merit by this Court. A party properly objecting on these bases must explain the specific and particular ways in which a request is vague, overly broad, or unduly burdensome. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 33(b)(4); Josephs v. Harris Corp., 677 F.2d 985, 992 (3d Cir.1982) (“[T]he mere statement by a party that the interrogatory was ‘overly broad, burdensome, oppressive and irrelevant’ is not adequate to voice a successful objection to an interrogatory.”).

Defendant complains that the Plaintiffs discovery requests are overbroad. Although Defendant fails to substantiate this objection to any meaningful degree, a review of Plaintiffs discovery requests lends some merit to Defendant’s argument (i.e. “All communications of any type sent to, or received from, State Farm, its agents, employees, and/or representatives regarding Cox’s claim.”). Additionally, Plaintiffs requests may seek proprietary and irrelevant information, such as any internally used policy manuals.

This objection, however, is moot, as the only documents Defendant withheld from production are those listed in the Privilege Log. To the extent Plaintiffs Motion seeks documents listed in the Privilege Log, we will address those requests below.

C. Relevance

Information requested via discovery is relevant if it appears reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(b)(1); Fed.R.Evid. 401; Oppenheimer Fund, Inc. v. Sanders, 437 U.S. 340, 345, 98 S.Ct. 2380, 57 L.Ed.2d 253 (1978); see also Local Rule 26.1.G.3. The admissibility of evidence in a diversity action is governed by federal law. See, e.g., Peat, Inc. v. Vanguard Research, Inc., 378 F.3d 1154, 1159 (11th Cir.2004) (applying state law for substantive issues in a diversity action, but utilizing federal rules for the admissibility of evidence). Discovery should ordinarily be allowed unless it is clear that the information sought has no possible bearing on the claims and defenses of the [696]*696parties or otherwise on the subject matter of the action. Dunkin’ Donuts, Inc. v. Mary’s Donuts, Inc., No. 01-0392-Civ-Gold, 2001 WL 34079319, at *2 (S.D.Fla. Nov. 1, 2001).

A recent decision in the Southern District of Florida addressed the relevancy of certain discovery requests in the context of a first-party action against an insurer for breach of contract. See, e.g., Atrium on the Ocean II Condo. Ass’n v. QBE Ins. Corp., No. 06-14326-CV-Graham-Lynch, 2007 WL 2972937, at *2, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 74962, at *4 (S.D.Fla. Oct. 9, 2007). In that case, a condominium association requested documents that formed the basis for denial of plaintiffs insurance claim; to wit, the insurer’s factual inquiry and evaluation of the claim decision. Id., 2007 WL 2972937, at *1, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 74962, at *2. The defendant in Atrium objected based on relevance, and Plaintiff filed a motion to compel the following discovery request:

The Motion concerns Request No.

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Bluebook (online)
247 F.R.D. 691, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 90980, 2007 WL 4350865, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/milinazzo-v-state-farm-insurance-flsd-2007.