Nationstar Mortgage, LLC v. Flamingo Trails No. 7 Landscape Maintenance Ass'n

316 F.R.D. 327, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99524
CourtDistrict Court, D. Nevada
DecidedJuly 28, 2016
DocketCase No. 2:15-cv-01268-RFB-NJK
StatusPublished
Cited by244 cases

This text of 316 F.R.D. 327 (Nationstar Mortgage, LLC v. Flamingo Trails No. 7 Landscape Maintenance Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Nevada primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nationstar Mortgage, LLC v. Flamingo Trails No. 7 Landscape Maintenance Ass'n, 316 F.R.D. 327, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99524 (D. Nev. 2016).

Opinion

ORDER

NANCY J. KOPPE, United States Magistrate Judge

Pending before the Court is the motion to compel and the motion for sanctions filed by Plaintiff Nationstar Mortgage, LLC (“Na-tionstar”). Docket No. 60. Defendant SFR Investment Pool 1, LLC (“SFR”) filed a response in opposition, and Nationstar filed a reply. Docket Nos. 64, 66. The motions are properly resolved without a hearing. See Local Rule 78-1. For the reasons discussed more fully below, the motion to compel is GRANTED and the motion for sanctions is GRANTED.

I. FACTUAL OVERVIEW

This is one of hundreds of quiet title actions arising out of homeowner foreclosure proceedings. As a general matter, the parties dispute whether SFR’s purchase of the property at issue extinguished Nationstar’s own rights to the property. See, e.g., Docket No, 1 at ¶31. On February 22, 2016, Nationstar noticed the deposition for Christopher Hardin-the manager of SFR-to take place on March 7, 2016. See Docket No. 30-8. The deposition notice was served by hand on SFR’s counsel that day, and also served by mail. See id. at 4-6. On Saturday, March 5, 2016, SFR filed a motion for protective order “to not permit the deposition of Christopher Hardin to take place.” See Docket No. 27 at 1. On Monday, March 7, 2016, Nationstar’s counsel appeared for the deposition as scheduled, but neither Mr. Hardin nor SFR’s counsel appeared. See Docket No. 30-4 at ¶ 14. Nationstar thereafter filed a motion to compel and for sanctions arising out of that non-appearance. See Docket No. 30.

In light of a separate order to show cause regarding the existence of diversity jurisdiction, the Court denied the above motions without prejudice. Docket No. 42 at 3. Once the Court resolved the jurisdictional issues and in an effort to streamline the process of resolving the pending disputes, the Court instructed the parties to present the issues through the filing of a motion to compel by Nationstar, with the briefing on such motion to include any relevant argument as to whether a contrary protective order should be entered and whether sanctions should be imposed. See Docket No. 58 at 2. That motion to compel is now pending before the Court, rendering ripe the dispute as to whether Mr. Hardin’s deposition should be compelled or protected and whether sanctions should be imposed for his non-appearance at the deposition on March 7, 2016.

II. DISCOVERY DISPUTE

“[Bjroad discretion is vested in the trial court to permit or deny discovery.” Hallett v. Morgan, 296 F.3d 732, 751 (9th Cir.2002); see also Crowford-El v. Britton, 523 U.S. 574, 598, 118 S.Ct. 1584, 140 L.Ed.2d 759 (1998). Parties are entitled to discover non-privileged information that is relevant to any party’s claim or defense and is proportional to the needs of the case, including consideration of the importance of the issues at stake in the action, the parties’ relative access to relevant information, the parties’ resources, the importance of the discovery in resolving the issues, and whether the burden or expense of the proposed discovery outweighs its likely benefit. Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1). The recent amendments to the discovery rules are meant to curb the culture of scorched earth litigation tactics by emphasizing the importance of ensuring that the discovery process “provided] parties with efficient access to what is needed to prove a claim or defense, but eliminate unnecessary or wasteful discovery.” Roberts v. Clark County School Dish, 312 F.R.D. 594, 603-04 (D.Nev.2016).

When a party fails to provide requested discovery, the requesting party may move to compel that discovery. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(a). Conversely, a party from whom discovery is sought may move for a protective order. See Fed, R. Civ. P. 26(e). For good cause shown, courts may issue a protective order to protect a party or person from annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden or expense. See id.; see also Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(2)(C) (courts must limit frequency or extent of discovery that is oth[332]*332erwise permissible if that discovery is unreasonably cumulative or duplicative, or can be obtained from some other source that is more convenient, less burdensome, or less expensive). When a discovery dispute is presented through the filing of a motion to compel and that motion is denied, courts may enter any protective order authorized under Rule 26(c). See Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(a)(6)(B).1

The pending discovery dispute centers on Nationstar’s ability to depose Mr. Hardin. Nationstar urges that the deposition is critically important to disputing SFR’s contention that it is a bona fide purchaser of the underlying property. See, e.g., Docket No. 60 at 2, 12.2 For example, Nationstar seeks testimony regarding the reading of a script at the foreclosure sale notifying prospective buyers of litigation regarding the property. See id. at 4. Nationstar contends that deposing Mr. Hardin is of particular significance because its questions posed at the Rule 30(b)(6) deposition were met largely with responses that SFR’s designated witness did not know the answer, and that an interrogatory was similarly answered largely by responses that SFR could not recall. See id. at 5-6, 12; see also Docket No. 65 at 7-8. Nationstar also suggests that Mr. Hardin’s deposition likely can be completed in only a few hours, and that Nationstar is willing to depose Mr. Hardin outside of normal working hours to reduce any inconvenience or disruption to SFR’s business. See Docket No. 60 at 14.

SFR resists the deposition by making numerous procedural and substantive arguments. None of SFR’s arguments is persuasive. Instead, as elaborated below, the Court agrees -with Nationstar that the deposition notice was proper and that the deposition testimony sought is discoverable and proportional to the needs of this case.

A. Deposition Notice

As a threshold matter, SFR argues that Mr. Hardin should not be subjected to a deposition because Nationstar improperly served a deposition notice on SFR’s counsel. See, e.g., Docket No. 64 at 6-8. In particular, SFR contends that Mr. Hardin could only be subpoenaed to a deposition pursuant to Rule 45 because he is a “non-party” to this action. Id. at 6-7. Moreover, because the discovery cutoff has since expired, SFR argues that this notice defect is fatal to any attempt to depose Mr. Hardin in this case. See id. at 12. Nationstar argues that a subpoena is not required to compel Mr. Hardin’s deposition based on his status as an officer or managing agent of a party. Docket No. 60 at 8.3 Nationstar has the better argument.

A party may depose a person by serving “reasonable written notice.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 30(b)(1).

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Bluebook (online)
316 F.R.D. 327, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99524, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nationstar-mortgage-llc-v-flamingo-trails-no-7-landscape-maintenance-nvd-2016.