Roberts v. Carrier Corp.

107 F.R.D. 678, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15601
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Indiana
DecidedSeptember 25, 1985
DocketCiv. No. F 85-371
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 107 F.R.D. 678 (Roberts v. Carrier Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Roberts v. Carrier Corp., 107 F.R.D. 678, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15601 (N.D. Ind. 1985).

Opinion

ORDER

WILLIAM C. LEE, District Judge.

This matter is before the court on plaintiffs (“Roberts”) Motion to Compel Dis- ' covery, and deponent Hamilton Standard Controls (“Hamilton”) and defendant Carrier Corporation’s (“Carrier”) Motion to Quash and for a Protective Order. Roberts filed a memorandum in support of the motion to compel on August 16, 1985, and a memorandum in opposition to the motion to quash on September 10, 1985. On the issue of attorney-client and work product privileges, Roberts also filed a “Supplemental Brief Relating to Communications Between Carrier and Hamilton” on September 12, 1985. Hamilton and Carrier filed a memorandum in support of the motion to quash on September 6, 1985, and a reply brief on September 12, 1985. In addition, Hamilton and Carrier submitted fifty-seven documents for in camera inspection on September 6, 1985, a reply brief directed at Roberts’ “Supplemental Brief’^on September 16, 1985, and a “Statement of Facts” on September 23, 1985, which Roberts responded to by a letter to the court received September 23, 1985. An extensive hearing was held on the motions on September 6, 1985 as well as a telephone conference with counsel on September 19, 1985. In the course of the hearing and telephone conference, counsel indicated that substantial agreement had been reached on all but two items in the original discovery requests of Roberts, so that the court need only rule on the motions as they pertained to those two discovery requests. For the following reasons, the motion to compel and the motion to quash will be granted in part and denied in part, and the motion for a. protective order will be considered moot.

This dispute arises out of an ancillary proceeding under Rule 37(a)(1) of the Fed[681]*681eral Rules of Civil Procedure. That rule provides that an application for an order compelling discovery directed at a deponent who is not a party shall be made to the court in the district in which the deposition is being taken. Here, Roberts served upon Hamilton a request for the production of documents in connection with a deposition, and Hamilton has raised several objections to the materials sought in the request. Roberts moved this court to compel discovery, and Hamilton moved to quash and for a protective order. Carrier then joined with Hamilton in opposing the motion to compel. At the September 6, 1985 hearing, and the September 19, 1985 telephone conference, counsel indicated that an agreement had been reached concerning production of the requested materials, with the exception of two items listed in the request for production.

The underlying lawsuit, pending in the Eastern District of Texas, involves an action brought by Roberts for the injuries of Melody Roberts suffered in a house fire allegedly caused by a Carrier-manufactured furnace. Roberts seeks to discover information relating to the manufacture of the furnace and its component parts, especially a gas control valve, known as gas control valve # 242, as well as information concerning complaints and performance problems involving valve # 242. According to Roberts’ motion to compel, the valve was manufactured by Essex Group, Inc. which, along with Carrier and Hamilton, is a wholly owned subsidiary of United Technologies, Inc. When Roberts sought information from Essex concerning the valve, Essex averred that the materials sought were in the possession of Hamilton, thus precipitating the present discovery controversy.

According to the assurances of the parties given to the court at the September 6 hearing and the September 19 telephone conference, all but two of Roberts’ requests for documents served with the notice of deposition have been resolved, and a protective order has been drafted to cover the production. The two requests for documents still in dispute are items 5 and 9. Item 5 seeks the following:

5. Any communication with any governmental entity regarding Essex control valve # 242. This specifically includes any investigation by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Any documents produced to that governmental entity, including the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Item 9 seeks

[a]ll communications and/or agreements between Carrier Corporation and Hamilton Standard Controls, Inc. concerning this lawsuit, whether written or not.

Hamilton has objected to the item 5 request on the grounds that it has an absolute privilege against disclosure under the Consumer Product Safety Act for any information given to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, as well as a common law privilege against disclosure of “critical self-analysis.” Hamilton and Carrier object to the item 9 request on the basis of attorney-client and work product privilege.

Rule 26(b) governs the scope of discovery requests. Rule 26(b)(1) provides that “[pjarties may obtain discovery regarding any matter, not privileged, which is relevant to the subject matter involved in the pending action____” Because Hamilton and Carrier have objected to the discovery requests on the basis of privileges, the court considers each privilege in turn in the context of the information sought by Roberts.

Privilege under the Consumer Product Safety Act

Section 6 of the Consumer Product Safety Act (“Act”), 15 U.S.C. § 2055, regulates the disclosure of information by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (“CPSC”). That section establishes two main restrictions on the CPSC’s ability to disseminate information under the Act. The first is a trade secret limitation. Under § 6(a)(2),

All information reported to or otherwise obtained by the Commission or its representative under this Act which information contains or relates to a trade secret [682]*682... shall be considered confidential and shall not be disclosed.

Subparagraphs (3)-(6) detail how the CPSC, prior to disclosure of any information which would permit the public to ascertain the identity of a manufacturer by the disclosure, must allow the manufacturer to mark the information as falling under § 6(a)(2) so as to bar disclosure.

The second restriction is set forth in § 6(b)(1), which requires that, prior to a disclosure to the public, a manufacturer shall be given a summary of the information to be disclosed and a reasonable opportunity to comment on the information. In § 6(b)(5), the Act then provides:

In addition to the requirements of paragraph (1), the Commission shall not disclose to the public information submitted pursuant to section 2064(b) [15(b) ] of this title respecting a consumer product unless—
(A) the Commission has issued a complaint under section 2064(c) [§ 15(c)] or (d) of this title alleging that such product presents a substantial product hazard;
(B) in lieu of proceeding against such product under section 2064(c) or (d) of this title, the Commission has accepted in writing a remedial settlement agreement dealing with such product; or
(C) the person who submitted the information under section 2064(b) of this title agrees to its public disclosure.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
107 F.R.D. 678, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15601, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/roberts-v-carrier-corp-innd-1985.