Reed v. Illinois

318 F.R.D. 77, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 87111, 2016 WL 3612115
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedJuly 6, 2016
DocketCase No: 14 C 2247
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 318 F.R.D. 77 (Reed v. Illinois) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Reed v. Illinois, 318 F.R.D. 77, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 87111, 2016 WL 3612115 (N.D. Ill. 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

Jeffrey Cole, UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

Before the court is the motion of nonparty, Eleise Moore, to quash the subpoena (captioned, “Motion to Nullify Subpoena”) that the Plaintiff, Linda Reed, served on her on May 21, 2016. [Dkt. #104], The Plaintiff happens to be Ms. Moore’s sister, and while her lawsuit is an action brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act, it touches on the distribution of assets from the estate of their mother, Evia Tharbs, who passed away in November 2013. The Plaintiff alleges that she suffers from a number of disabilities and was not provided adequate accommodations in the Circuit of Cook County to allow her to participate meaningfully in the Probate Court Guardianship proceeding that involved the failure of the guardian of Evia’s estate to locate and safeguard Evia’s assets. Evia was disabled as well—she suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, In re Estate of Tharbs, No. 1-14-3079, 2015 WL 4039853, at *1 (Ill.App.Ct. June 30, 2015)—and, for a time, the guardian was a brother of Plaintiff and Ms. Moore, Eddie Tharbs, Jr.1 The subpoena requires Ms. Moore—who also served as guardian for a time—to sit for a deposition and to produce documents pertaining to the guardianship, distribution of assets, any wills of Evia and Eddie Tharbs, Sr., safe deposit boxes, etc. [Dkt. #108-1]. The Plaintiff asserts that such discovery is relevant to the measure of damages she suffered as a result of the alleged failure to adequately accommodate her disabilities.2

[79]*79Ms. Moore, proceeding pro se, states that, when she received the subpoena, she telephoned Plaintiffs attorney and asked him what the ease was about, She says that counsel explained to her that it was a case under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and that her sister was claiming that she had been denied adequate accommodations, specifically, an appointed attorney. In her motion to quash, Ms. Moore protests that she doesn’t have any of the requested documents, and knows nothing about the case or the Americans with Disabilities Act; she claims doesn’t even know if her sister has a disability. She complains that the subpoena has put her “in an oppressed state” and has “become disturbing and cruel on [her] spirit.” She claims she has a history of seizure and sleep issues and calls the “extreme stress” and “heavy burden” the subpoena has imposed on her “detrimental to [her] health and well-being.” [Dkt. #104].

Under Fed. R. Civ. P. 45(d)(3)(A)(iv), a district court “must quash or modify a subpoena” if it subjects the respondent to an undue burden. In this regard, the court notes that Ms. Moore is a non-party. It is one thing to subject parties to the trials and tribulations of discovery— rightly regarded as “the bane of modem litigation,” Rossetto v. Past Brewing Co., Inc., 217 F.3d 539, 542 (7th Cir.2000)—but a non-party doesn’t usually have a horse in the race. Robinson v. Stanley, No. 06 C 5158, 2010 WL 1005736, at *3 (N.D.Ill. Mar. 17, 2010). Still, it is up to the respondent to establish undue burden with a particularized showing. CSC Holdings, Inc. v. Redisi, 309 F.3d 988, 993 (7th Cir.2002). Ms. Moore hasn’t done that here, relying exclusively on unadorned assertions regarding the stress and worry the subpoena has subjected her to and claiming, unconvincingly given the record, that she knows nothing about the topic of the subpoena. Moreover, a claim of igno-ranee about the subject matter of the subpoena is insufficient. Horizons Titanium Corp. v. Norton Co., 290 F.2d 421, 425 (1st Cir.1961). The subject is discussed at some length in Johnson v. Jung, 242 F.R.D. 481, 483 (N.D.Ill.2007). The fact that Ms. Moore is pro se ought not to change the applicability of the above rule. McNeil v. United States, 508 U.S. 106, 113 S.Ct. 1980, 124 L.Ed.2d 21 (1993); SEC v. Spadaccini, 256 Fed.Appx. 794, 795 (7th Cir.2007).

It is clear, or at least very likely, that Ms. Moore knows far more about the subject matter of the subpoena than her motion to quash suggests. She doesn’t have to know anything about the Americans with Disabilities Act or her sister’s condition, of course, to answer questions about the assets at issue at her deposition. Johnson, 242 F.R.D. at 483. See also Flowers v. Owens, 274 F.R.D. 218, 222 (N.D.Ill.2011). The questions are going to be about what she may or may not know about assets from her mother’s estate. That’s abundantly clear from the document rider; so her claim that she has no knowledge does not resolve the issue. Ms. Moore may have played at least some role in her mother’s guardianship, as is obvious from the Illinois Appellate Court’s decision in the case.

In October 2005, Ms. Moore and another of her sisters, Doris Wilson, petitioned to be appointed plenary co-guardians of Evia’s estate and as a disabled person. In re Estate of Tharbs, No. 1-14-3079, 2015 WL 4039853, at *1. They were appointed as such on February 8, 2006, and Ms. Moore served in that capacity until January 16, 2008. In re Estate of Tharbs, No. 1-14-3079, 2015 WL 4039853, at *2.3 Along the way, she and her sister, Doris, did file at least one account of their mother’s estate. In re Estate of Tharbs, No. 1-14-3079, 2015 WL 4039853, at *2. Ms. Moore may not have a copy of that document, or any of the requested documents or know where they are—as she now claims— [80]*80but that does not excuse her from responding to the request and saying so at a deposition. Johnson, 242 F.R.D. at 483.

Moreover, the deposition testimony of another of Ms. Moore’s sisters, Darlene Moore, also indicates that Ms. Moore has knowledge regarding those assets and may, indeed, have responsive documents. On March 2, 2016, Plaintiff deposed Darlene Moore and she recounted a tale of Ms. Moore and yet another sister, Zelda Martin misappropriating assets from their mother’s estate. Darlene testified that she had her mother’s power of attorney, and her mother instructed her what to do with her assets upon her death. [Dkt. #108-3, Darlene Moore Dep., at 25]. Plaintiffs counsel asked at the deposition what happened to her mother’s annuity when she died. She responded:

A: My sisters got it, Eleise Moore and Zelda Martin.
Q: How did they get it?
A: Went to the bank, forged my mother’s name, which you will see the forgery.
Q: So Eleise and who else?
A: Zelda Martin.

[Dkt. #108-3, Darlene Moore Dep., at 26]. Later, Darlene Moore testified that her two sisters took all of their mother’s money:

A:... But they took the money.
Q: Who is “they”
A: My two sisters, Eleise Moore and Zelda Martin,
Q: And what money did they take precisely, Ms.

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318 F.R.D. 77, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 87111, 2016 WL 3612115, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reed-v-illinois-ilnd-2016.