Rice v. St. Louis University

District Court, E.D. Missouri·Decided October 21, 2020·No. 4:19-cv-03166·Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI EASTERN DIVISION

MANDY RICE, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) Case No. 4:19-cv-03166 SEP ) ST. LOUIS UNIVERSITY, et al., ) ) Defendants. )

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER This matter is before the Court on Plaintiff Mandy Rice’s (“Dr. Rice”) Motion for Discovery (Doc. [55]) and Defendant St. Louis University’s (“SLU”) request for a discovery conference (Doc. [56]).1 This Court held a teleconference on July 1, 2020, at which counsel for both parties were present. I. Background Dr. Rice and SLU previously conducted extensive discovery in a related action in Missouri state court. The parties agree that discovery in this case will be limited to those claims that were not raised in the previous action—namely, Dr. Rice’s Title VII claims. The parties disagree about the appropriate extent of that additional discovery and whether certain privileges apply. The Court will consider below the parties’ respective requests and objections.2

1 For purposes of this Memorandum and Order, the Court will treat SLU’s request for a discovery conference as a Motion to Compel. 2 The parties have reached resolutions as to Dr. Rice’s Requests for Production Nos. 2 and 18. Additionally, the Court has been informed that Dr. Rice no longer seeks separate interrogatory answers from Drs. Wittgen and Freeman. Thus, the Court will not address those requests. II. Discussion A. Dr. Rice’s Interrogatories Nos. 11, 12, 23, and 24 Dr. Rice seeks information regarding surgical residents at SLU who were placed on probation or assigned a unique rotation schedule between 2014 and 2018. Doc. [55] ¶¶ 4-7; Hearing Tr. 9:22-10:4. SLU contends that these requests should be restricted to residents in the

General Surgery Program between 2016 and 2018. Doc. [57] at 1-2. The Court agrees that Dr. Rice’s requests should be confined to residents in the General Surgery program but sees no basis for excluding information from the years 2014 and 2015. See Lyoch v. Anheuser-Busch Co., 164 F.R.D. 62 (E.D. Mo. 1995) (limiting scope of document production related to age or sex discrimination to five years). SLU also contends that the requests, as phrased, would require it to produce irrelevant documents, such as those containing mundane patient-care matters. Doc. [57] at 3. The Court is sensitive to these concerns, especially considering the voluminous discovery that already took place in state court. SLU will be required to identify only those documents that directly address

decisions to place residents on probation or assign them a unique rotation schedule. B. Lisa Israel’s Executive Analysis In 2019, SLU’s Director of Professional Oversight prepared a report (the “Executive Analysis” or “Analysis”) on bullying and harassment in the General Surgery program. Dr. Rice seeks to discover the names of all individuals interviewed for the purposes of the Analysis, as well as all related documents. Doc. [55] ¶ 11. SLU objects on the grounds that the Executive Analysis is irrelevant to Dr. Rice’s claims because it was not prepared until one year after Dr. Rice’s residency had ended. Doc. [57] at 3-4; Doc. [73] at 7-9. SLU also argues that the Analysis and related information are protected under the self-critical analysis privilege. Doc. [57] at 4. 1. Relevance The Court finds that the Executive Analysis is relevant to Dr. Rice’s Title VII claims. According to Dr. Rice, the Executive Analysis describes a residency program fraught with

bullying and harassment of the very kind Dr. Rice alleges here. Doc. [55] ¶ 11; Doc. [59] at 2-3. The Analysis—and by extension the information on which it was based—satisfies the relevance standard for discovery in civil cases. Hofer v. Mack Trucks, Inc., 981 F.2d 377, 380 (8th Cir. 1992) (requiring only a “threshold showing of relevance . . . before parties are required to open wide the doors of discovery . . . .”). SLU’s efforts to downplay the Analysis’s relevance are betrayed by its own briefing. For example, SLU cites the Southern District of Ohio’s opinion in Jones v. St. Jude S.C., Inc. for the proposition that “me too” evidence is irrelevant in harassment suits. Doc. [73] at 8 (citing 823 F. Supp. 2d 699 (S.D. Ohio 2011)). But as that very court observed, such evidence can be relevant

when “the same actors, reasons, and circumstances [are] involved.” 823 F. Supp. 2d at 734; see also Sallis v. Univ. of Minn., 408 F.3d 470, 478 (8th Cir. 2007) (“Courts have frequently tailored discovery requests, as to historic company records, to encompass a reasonable time period, both before and after the discriminatory event being alleged.”) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). As far as the Court can tell, the Executive Analysis involves the same actors, reasons, and circumstances as Dr. Rice’s claims. SLU has not alleged wholesale program changes in the year following Dr. Rice’s termination, nor a mass exodus of faculty members during that time. And contrary to SLU’s assertions, a one-year difference is not so remote as to render the Executive Analysis irrelevant to Dr. Rice’s claims—especially when the Analysis makes specific reference to Dr. Rice’s lawsuit. Doc. [59] at 2. 2. The Self-Critical Analysis Privilege SLU’s attempt to invoke the self-critical analysis privilege is unavailing. Evidentiary privileges are governed by Federal Rule of Evidence 501. Rule 501 does not provide for any

specific privileges but instead instructs courts to look to “[t]he common law—as interpreted by United States courts in the light of reason and experience . . . .” Fed. R. Evid. 501. “Federal common law recognizes a privilege only in rare situations.” In re Grand Jury Subpoena Duces Tecum, 112 F.3d 910, 918 (8th Cir. 1997). Indeed, courts generally will not recognize a privilege unless the reasons for doing so outweigh the need for truth. See United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, 709-10 (1974); Jaffee v. Redmond, 518 U.S. 1, 9 (1996). While some courts have fashioned a privilege for self-critical analyses, the Eighth Circuit has displayed “a marked reluctance to accept the [] privilege.” Capellupo v. FMC Corp., CIV. No. 4–85–1239, 1988 WL 41398, at *4 (D. Minn. May 3, 1988) (citing In re Burlington

Northern Inc., 679 F.2d 762, 767 (8th Cir. 1982)); see also In re Burlington Northern Inc., 679 F.2d at 765 n.4 (observing that “courts have appeared reluctant to enforce even a qualified ‘self- evaluation’ privilege”). This reluctance appears to have calcified over the last four decades. See, e.g., Capellupo, 1988 WL 41398, at *7 (finding magistrate judge’s application of the privilege erroneous as a matter of law); West v. Marion Labs. Inc., No. 90–0661–CV–W–2, 1991 WL 517230, at *2 (W.D. Mo. Dec. 12, 1991) (“Considering the general reluctance of the 8th Circuit to acknowledge the ‘self-critical analysis’ privilege . . . this Court will grant plaintiff's motion to compel discovery . . . .”); Tharp v. Sivyer Steel Corp., 149 F.R.D. 177, 182 (S.D.

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