Ofoedu v. St. Francis Hospital

234 F.R.D. 26, 64 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 155, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9205, 2006 WL 398625
CourtDistrict Court, D. Connecticut
DecidedFebruary 16, 2006
DocketNo. 3:04CV1707 (PCD)
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 234 F.R.D. 26 (Ofoedu v. St. Francis Hospital) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ofoedu v. St. Francis Hospital, 234 F.R.D. 26, 64 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 155, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9205, 2006 WL 398625 (D. Conn. 2006).

Opinion

RULING ON DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO COMPEL & FOR AN AWARD OF SANCTIONS & PLAINTIFF’S CROSS-MOTION FOR SANCTIONS

DORSEY, District Judge.

Defendants move [Doc. No. 45], pursuant to Rules 30 and 37 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Local Rules 7 and 37, for an order compelling Plaintiff to produce all documents requested in Defendants’ First Set of Requests for Production and for an award of sanctions against Plaintiff and Plaintiffs counsel (Attorney Emengo) for their “willful and repeated failure to comply with the rules of discovery.” Defs Mot. Compel at 1. In response, Plaintiff filed a Cross-Motion [Doe. No. 54] for an order imposing sanctions against Defendants and/or Defendants’ counsel (Attorney Strange) “for engaging in improper conduct during discovery proceedings and for failure to comply with document requests.” Pi’s Cross-Mot. at 1. For the reasons set forth herein, Defendants’ Motion is granted in part and denied in part and Plaintiffs Cross-Motion is granted in part and denied in part.

I. BACKGROUND1

This case involves Plaintiffs claim that Defendants terminated his employment and otherwise discriminated against him on the basis of his sex, race, color and national origin in violation of Title VII and 42 U.S.C. Section 1981.2 On December 22, 2005, Defendants filed this Motion to Compel and for an Award of Sanctions, alleging that the requested order is necessary because “Plaintiff and Plaintiffs counsel have repeatedly demonstrated a complete disregard for the requirements of Rule 34 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.” Defs Mot. Compel at 1-2. Defendants charge Plaintiff and his counsel with [28]*28engaging in a variety of improper behaviors, including the following:

1) Plaintiffs counsel marked approximately eighteen documents as exhibits during the depositions of St. Francis employees Denise Currier, Faye Davis and Carol Schuster conducted during the week of November 7, 2005 which he did not produce during discovery and which were responsive to Defendants’ First Set of Requests for Production served on Plaintiff on June 10, 2005;
2) Plaintiff has refused to provide documents regarding his efforts to mitigate damages which Plaintiff testified he possessed and which Attorney Emengo stated would be produced; and
3) During his deposition, Plaintiff testified that he possessed additional documents related to his employment at St. Francis which he would produce as they became relevant. Plaintiff also attended the depositions of several St. Francis employees with a stack of papers from which he selected certain documents which his attorney then marked as deposition exhibits.

Defs Mem. Supp. Mot. Compel at 2. Defendants request that the Court enter an order compelling production of those documents and sanctioning Plaintiffs counsel for his “noncompliance” and “blatant disregard for the rules of discovery.” Id. at 2-3.

This is not the first discovery dispute between these two parties to come before this Court. Defendants filed a Motion for a Protective Order on August 31, 2005 and a Motion to Compel on September 27, 2005, seeking relief from Plaintiff counsel’s conduct during depositions and a Court Order compelling Plaintiff to answer questions at his deposition which his attorney had previously instructed him not to answer. Defendants also requested that the Court impose sanctions on Plaintiff and his counsel for their behavior. In response, Plaintiff filed a Cross-Motion to Compel and for Sanctions. In its October 7, 2005 Ruling regarding the pending discovery motions, this Court found that:

A review of the deposition transcripts supplied by both Plaintiff and Defendants reveal that Plaintiffs counsel engaged in a great deal of inappropriate behavior, including interrupting questioning, coaching the witness, instructing the witness, answering for the witness, interjecting legally improper objections, making long colloquies, instructing witness not to answer numerous questions, and displaying hostile and aggressive behavior toward opposing counsel and toward deponent Catherine Szenczy. The Court did not find any support, however, for Plaintiffs allegations regarding defense counsel’s conduct. In reviewing a large sampling of Plaintiffs citations of Attorney Strange’s alleged misconduct the Court found almost no relevant information and no impropriety on the part of Attorney Strange.

Oct. 7, 2005 Ruling at 4. The Court extended discovery deadlines, permitted more depositions, ordered Plaintiffs counsel to refrain from making legally improper objections, interrupting witnesses, interfering with the completion of their answers and instructing them not to answer, and instructed Plaintiff to answer the questions referred to in the Defendants’ Motion to Compel in a subsequent deposition. Id. at 4-5. Although the Court refused to award attorneys’ fees or sanctions at that time, it did warn Plaintiff and his counsel about the possibility of such award in the future, saying that “[i]f ... following the proposed depositions discussed above, it is found that Plaintiffs counsel has engaged in improper conduct, proper sanctions may be imposed, including revocation of Attorney Emengo’s pro hac vice admission in this case.” Id. at 6.

As in their previous motions, Defendants also allege here, in their support of their request for sanctions against Plaintiff and/or his counsel, that Plaintiffs counsel has continued to engage in the inappropriate, disruptive, abusive, harassing and bullying conduct which the Court warned him against in the October 7, 2005 Ruling. Specifically, Defendants allege that “Attorney Emengo continued to interpose inappropriate objections, to coach the witness, to interrupt counsel’s questioning and to otherwise frustrate a fair examination of Plaintiff.” Mem. Supp. Mot. Compel at 3.

[29]*29As in the previous dispute, Plaintiff again has filed a Cross-Motion to Compel and for Sanctions against Defendants and/or Defendants’ counsel. Plaintiff requests that this Court impose sanctions against Defendants and/or their counsel and also seeks an order compelling production of all documents in Defendants’ possession which are responsive to requests made by Plaintiff during depositions, which requests Plaintiff claims were contained in his Requests for Production Numbers 7, 9,12,14,16 and 19.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Defendants’ Motion to Compel

1. Documents Responsive to Defendants’ First Set of Requests for Production

Defendants seek an order compelling Plaintiff to produce all documents responsive to their First Set of Requests for Production. Defendants allege that during the depositions of Denise Currier, Faye Davis and Carol Schuster, Attorney Emengo marked eighteen separate documents as exhibits, all of which are alleged to be responsive to Defendants’ First Set of Requests for Production but which were never produced. See Def s Mem. Supp. Mot. Compel at 9-10.

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234 F.R.D. 26, 64 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 155, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9205, 2006 WL 398625, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ofoedu-v-st-francis-hospital-ctd-2006.