Neumont v. Monroe County

220 F.R.D. 380, 58 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 167, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2907, 2004 WL 345314
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedFebruary 13, 2004
DocketNo. 99-10054-CIV
StatusPublished

This text of 220 F.R.D. 380 (Neumont v. Monroe County) 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
Neumont v. Monroe County, 220 F.R.D. 380, 58 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 167, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2907, 2004 WL 345314 (S.D. Fla. 2004).

Opinion

ORDER

VITUNAC, United States Chief Magistrate Judge.

THIS CAUSE is before the Court on Order of Reference (DE 382) from United States District Judge James C. Paine referring the Plaintiffs’ Request for Ruling on Expense Shifting Sanctions (DE 381) “for recommended and/or final disposition.” On June 25, 2003, the Court entered an order (DE 385) denying the motion and deferring ruling on the expense shifting sanctions until the end of the case. On September 3, 2003, Judge Paine entered an order (DE 399) issuing findings of fact and giving the parties ten days to inform this Court “of all outstanding rulings regarding attorneys’ fees and/or sanctions.” On September 15, 2003, Judge Paine granted Plaintiffs’ motion for an extension of time until October 15, 2003, to comply with the Court’s order. Plaintiffs re-filed certain pleadings regarding the sanctions (DE 402) on October 10, 2003, and filed a brief on expense shifting sanctions (DE 403) on October 17, 2003. Additionally, Defendant filed its response on October 29, 2003, and Plaintiffs filed a reply (DE 406) on November 10, 2003.

On October 31, 2003, this Court ordered (DE 405) Plaintiffs to comply with Local Rule 7.3 and to submit the information required by the rule by November 14, 2003. On November 14, 2003, Plaintiffs filed a Motion for Extension of Time (DE 407) requesting until December 8, 2003, to file the required documents. This Court granted Plaintiffs’ motion on November 18, 2003. Plaintiffs filed their Amended Consolidated Fee Request (DE 419) on December 23, 2003, requesting $37,947.50 in attorneys’ fees. Plaintiffs also filed the affidavits of their attorneys: William H. Pincus (DE 409), James H. Hicks (DE 412, 417), and Harold E. Wolfe, Jr. (DE 414). Defendant filed its objection and request for a hearing (DE 415) on December 12, 2003.

Additionally, on January 8, 2004 (DE 420), Defendant filed its Motion to Strike Plaintiffs’ Notice of Filing Original Affidavit of James H. Hicks, Esq. and Supplemental Objection to Plaintiffs’ Motion. Plaintiffs filed their response (DE 422) on January 15, 2004. Finally, Defendant filed its Motion to Strike Plaintiffs’ Amended Consolidated Fee Request (DE 423) on January 16, 2004, and Plaintiffs filed their response (DE 424) on January 29, 2004. These matters are now ripe for review.

Plaintiffs’ Motion for Expense Shifting Sanctions

Plaintiffs request expense shifting sanctions in connection with the following discovery motions: (1) Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel Production of Documents & Response to Second Request for Admissions (DE 115); (2) Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel Response to Third Request to Admissions to Defendant, Monroe County (DE 121); (3) Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel Production of Documents on “Second Request for Production of Documents” (DE 127); and (4) Plaintiffs’ Amended Motion to Compel Response to Third Request for Admissions (DE 128). This Court disposed of these motions in an order (DE 156) dated January 9, 2001, but reserved ruling on the issue of expense shifting sanctions until the end of the ease.

According to the Plaintiffs, they are entitled to recover attorneys’ fees pursuant to Rule 37(a)(4)(A) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Plaintiffs argue expense shifting sanctions must be awarded to prevailing parties on motions to compel and that the matter is not discretionary. Plaintiffs argue the Court must impose expense shifting sanctions because the Defendant is unable to show that its objections were substantially justified.

[382]*382 Defendant’s Response

In response, Defendant argues its objections to Plaintiffs’ motions to compel were substantially justified. Defendant argues an objection is substantially justified if it is a response to a genuine dispute or if reasonable people could differ as to the appropriateness of the contested action. Defendant argues the objections it made to Plaintiffs discovery requests were in fact substantially justified. Defendant notes its objections to the motions to compel primarily related to the relevance of the discovery sought and were largely supported by case law. Though the Defendant ultimately conceded some of these objections and though the Court overruled its remaining objections, Defendant argues each objection presented a genuine dispute as to the relevancy of Plaintiffs’ discovery requests.

Discussion

Entitlement to Attorneys’ Fees

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(a)(4)(A) states:

If the motion is granted or if the disclosure or requested discovery is provided after the motion was filed, the court shall, after affording an opportunity to be heard, require the party or deponent whose conduct necessitated the motion or the party or attorney advising such conduct or both of them to pay to the moving party the reasonable expenses incurred in making the motion, including attorney’s fees unless the court finds that the motion was filed without the movant’s first making a good faith effort to obtain the disclosure or discovery without court action, the opposing party’s nondisclosure, response, or objection was substantially justified, or that other circumstances make an award of expenses unjust.

As dictated by Rule 37(a)(4)(A), “[a] court must impose attorney’s fees and expenses when compelling discovery unless the party was substantially justified in resisting discovery.” Maddow v. Procter & Gamble Co., Inc., 107 F.3d 846, 853 (11th Cir.1997). A party’s objection is substantially justified if “reasonable people could differ as to the appropriateness of the contested action.” Id.

Having reviewed the transcript of the hearing held before this Court on Plaintiffs’ motions to compel on December 20, 2000 (DE 220), the Court finds that Defendant’s refusal to produce the discovery materials was not substantially justified. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(1),1 “[pjarties may obtain discovery regarding any matter, not privileged, which is relevant to the subject matter involved in the pending action____The information sought need not be admissible at trial if the information sought appears reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.” Though Defendant originally objected to the relevancy of several of Plaintiffs’ discovery requests, Defendant withdrew the majority of these objections during the hearing held before this Court on December 20, 2000. This Court overruled the remainder of Defendant’s objections, finding the information sought was reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence. Plaintiffs were clearly entitled to the requested discovery which primarily dealt with the enactment of prior ordinances banning vacation rentals. A large portion of the information requested was available to Plaintiffs through Florida’s sunshine laws. (See Tr. of Dec. 20 Hr’g at 20.) Plaintiffs had attempted to obtain the material on their own through the county clerk’s office but were never given all of the information they requested.

Though Plaintiffs made a good faith attempt to resolve the discovery disputes prior to filing their motions (see

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Related

Hensley v. Eckerhart
461 U.S. 424 (Supreme Court, 1983)
Maddow v. Procter & Gamble Company, Inc.
107 F.3d 846 (Eleventh Circuit, 1997)
Rhein Medical, Inc. v. Koehler
889 F. Supp. 1511 (M.D. Florida, 1995)
Loranger v. Stierheim
10 F.3d 776 (Eleventh Circuit, 1994)

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Bluebook (online)
220 F.R.D. 380, 58 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 167, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2907, 2004 WL 345314, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/neumont-v-monroe-county-flsd-2004.