Miller v. Pruneda

236 F.R.D. 277, 2004 WL 3927832, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 29788
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. West Virginia
DecidedJuly 20, 2004
DocketCiv.A. No. 3:02-CV-42
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 236 F.R.D. 277 (Miller v. Pruneda) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. West Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Miller v. Pruneda, 236 F.R.D. 277, 2004 WL 3927832, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 29788 (N.D.W. Va. 2004).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION TO COMPEL

SEIBERT, United States Magistrate Judge.

On July 14 2004, came Plaintiffs, by Jimmy Hill, Esq. and Defendant, State and County Mutual Fire Insurance Company (State), by P. Gregory Haddad, Esq. and Defendants, Calamitas Ad Cadueuem, Inc. and Karen Selders by Mark McGhee, Esq. for a hearing on Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel. Testimony was not taken, and other evidence was not introduced.

[280]*280I. Introduction

A. Background. Plaintiffs filed this complaint on April 4, 2002 in the Circuit Court of Berkeley County, West Virginia. On May 1, 2002, Defendant Carlos De Luna removed the case to the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia. Plaintiffs allege the Defendants violated the West Virginia Unfair Trade Practices Act (UTPA) (W. Va.Code § 33-11-1, et seq. (2004)) when adjusting the personal injury and property damage allegedly inflicted on the Plaintiffs Miller and Parkinson and Miller’s vehicle.

The parties engaged in discovery and a dispute arose. Plaintiffs filed a Motion to Compel Discovery on June 23, 2004. On June 25, 2004 the matter was referred to me by the Honorable W. Craig Broadwater, District Judge.1 On July 6, 2004, Plaintiffs filed an Amended Motion to Compel. Defendant State filed a response to Plaintiffs’ Amended Motion to Compel on July 9, 2004. A hearing on the Motion to Compel was held on July 14, 2004.

B. The Motions.

Plaintiffs’ Motion and Amended Motion to Compel.2

C. Decision. The Motion to Compel is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part as hereinafter set forth.

II. Facts

Plaintiffs served their First Set of Interrogatories and Requests for Production of Documents on Defendant State on April 23, 2004. State responded to these discovery requests May 21, 2004. On June 7, 2004, State filed a Motion to Withdraw and Permitting Substitution of Counsel. On June 16, 2004, counsel for Plaintiffs attempted to notify Dale Buck, Esq., former counsel for State, that his client’s responses were not adequate and requested supplementation. On June 25, 2004, Judge Broadwater granted State’s Motion to Substitute Counsel and substituted Mr. Haddad for Mr. Buck as counsel for State.

III. Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel

A. Contentions of the Parties

Plaintiffs contends that a good faith effort has been made to resolve the discovery dispute without court action and that State should be ordered to completely and fully respond to Interrogatory (hereinafter “I”) Nos. 1, 2, and 3 from the First Set of Interrogatories and Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 from the Requests for Production of Documents (hereinafter “R”).

State contends that it exercised due diligence in responding to the requests for discovery and that the answers and responses are complete. In addition, State argues that certain requests should not be permitted due to the Plaintiffs failure to make a good-faith effort to confer prior to filing their Motion to Compel. Lastly, State asserts that certain materials the Plaintiffs seek to discover are not discoverable because they are either not relevant to the current proceeding or are protected under the attorney-client privilege or work product doctrine.

B. The Standards.

1. Discovery — Scope. “Parties may obtain discovery regarding any matter, not privileged, that is relevant to the claim or defense of any party, including the existence, description, nature, custody, condition, and location of any books, documents, or other tangible things and the identity and location of persons having knowledge of any discoverable matter. For good cause, the court may order discovery of any matter relevant to the subject matter involved in the action. Relevant information need not be admissible at the trial if the discovery appears reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence. All discovery is subject to the limitations imposed by Rule 26(b)(2)(i), (ii), and (in).” Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(b)(1).

2. Discovery — Scope. A party “may obtain discovery regarding any matter, not privileged, that is relevant to the claim or defense of any party.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(b)(1). In addition, “the discovery rules are given ‘a broad and liberal treatment.’” Nat’l Union [281]*281Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh, P.A. v. Murray Sheet Metal Co. Inc., 967 F.2d 980, 983 (4th Cir.1992) (quoting Hickman v. Taylor, 329 U.S. 495, 507, 67 S.Ct. 385, 91 L.Ed. 451 (1947)). However, the discovery sought must be relevant. Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(b)(1); see also St. Bernard Sav. and Loan Ass’n v. Levet, Civ. A. No. 91-4493, 1993 WL 386321, at *1 (E.D.La. Sept. 16, 1993) (stating that “the Rule 26 requirement that material sought in discovery be relevant should be firmly applied and courts should exercise appropriate control over the discovery process”).

3. Discovery — Relevancy. A court must strike a balance between the broad scope of the rules of discovery and the discovery of relevant evidence that is ultimately deemed admissible or inadmissible at trial. The test for relevancy under the discovery rules is necessarily broader than the test for relevancy under Rule 402 of the Federal Rules of Evidence. Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(b)(1) (“relevant information need not be admissible at the trial if the discovery appears reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.”). In striking the appropriate balance between these two tensions, “[district courts enjoy nearly unfettered discretion to control the timing and scope of discovery and impose sanctions for failures to comply with its discovery orders.” Hinkle v. City of Clarksburg, West Virginia, 81 F.3d 416, 426 (4th Cir.1996) (citations omitted).

4. Discovery — Duty to Supplement. Once the discovery process has commenced, a party has “a duty seasonably to amend a prior response to an interrogatory, request for production, or request for admission if the party learns that the response is in some material respect incomplete or incorrect and if the additional or corrective information has not otherwise been made known to the other parties during the discovery process or in writing.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(e)(2).

5. Discovery — Duty

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
236 F.R.D. 277, 2004 WL 3927832, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 29788, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/miller-v-pruneda-wvnd-2004.