Rosen v. Provident Life & Accident Insurance

308 F.R.D. 670, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 89070, 2015 WL 4139024
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Alabama
DecidedJuly 9, 2015
DocketCivil Action No. 2:14-CV-00922-WMA
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 308 F.R.D. 670 (Rosen v. Provident Life & Accident Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rosen v. Provident Life & Accident Insurance, 308 F.R.D. 670, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 89070, 2015 WL 4139024 (N.D. Ala. 2015).

Opinion

[676]*676MEMORANDUM OPINION

WILLIAM M. ACKER, JR., District Judge.

Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, parties have a general duty to disclose and to cooperate during discovery. See Fed. R. Civ. Proc. 26. “In general, it is hoped that reasonable lawyers can cooperate to manage discovery without the need for judicial intervention.” Fed. R. Civ. Proc. 26, Advisory Committee Notes. In the above entitled case, instead of cooperating as envisioned by the rule makers, the parties, particularly defendant Provident Life and Accident Insurance Company (“Provident”), have excessively filed layer upon layer of intertwined discovery motions and objections to discovery requests.

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26 authorizes a court to limit discovery where such discovery is cumulative or duplicative, the party seeking discovery has had ample opportunity to obtain the information, and the discovery is unduly burdensome or expensive, taking into account the needs of the case, the amount in controversy, limitations on the parties’ resources, and the importance of the issues at stake in the litigation.” Panola Land Buyers Ass’n v. Shuman, 762 F.2d 1550, 1558-59 (11th Cir.1985). A “party resisting discovery must show specifically how ... each interrogatory is not relevant or how each question is overly broad, burdensome or oppressive.” Id. at 1559 (citation omitted). In this case that burden is on Provident. The scope of discovery is largely within the discretion of the trial court because “[discovery should be tailored to the issues involved in the particular case.” Washington v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., 959 F.2d 1566, 1570 (11th Cir.1992). Exercising this discretion, the court now undertakes to resolve the parties’ multi-faceted discovery dispute.

Shortly after this court’s January 21, 2015 memorandum opinion, order, and addendum (Doc. 38, 39, and 40), which this court believed would smooth out the discovery flaps,1 plaintiff Lawrence Rosen (“Rosen”) filed a renewed motion to compel production of documents (Doc. 44) and a renewed motion to compel deposition testimony (Doc. 45). Provident replied to both motions on March 9, 2015 (Doc. 47 and 48), whereupon Rosen filed responses on March 19, 2015 (Doc. 50 and 51). Provident then filed a separate motion to strike Rosen’s replies, objecting to and moving to exclude allegedly inadmissible documents and references. (Doc. 52).

On April 20, 2015, Provident moved for a protective order (Doc. 55), to which Rosen replied on April 22, 2015 (Doc. 56). On April 27, 2015, Provident filed a motion to compel production of documents. (Doc. 57). Rosen replied on April 29, 2015 (Doc. 58), and Provident responded June 11, 2015 (Doc. 60). Finally, on May 28, 2015, Rosen filed a motion to compel, supplementing his previously filed renewed motion to compel. (Doc 59). Provident replied on June 24, 2015. (Doc. 61).

Having been monumentally briefed, the motions are now under submission. For the reasons expressed below, the court will deny Provident’s motion to strike (Doe. 52), motion for a protective order (Doc. 55), and motion to compel (Doe. 57), and will grant Rosen’s renewed motion to compel and supplement to his renewed motion to compel (Doc. 44 and Doc. 59) and renewed motion to compel deposition testimony (Doc. 45).

I. Provident’s motion to strike

“The United States Supreme Court has recognized that the discovery rules are to be accorded a broad and liberal treatment, and discovery should be allowed if the information sought appears reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.” Dunbar v. United States, 502 F.2d 506, 509-10 (5th Cir.1974) (citing Hickman v. Taylor, 329 U.S. 495, 507-508, 67 S.Ct. 385, 91 L.Ed. 451 (1947)).

Here, Provident’s motion to strike, labeled as an objection and motion to exclude, seeks to exclude certain documents and references contained in Rosen’s various motions also currently under submission, on [677]*677the basis that the information is inadmissible hearsay and not relevant. (Doc. 52 at 1). However, Provident deliberately overlooks the purpose of these certain documents and references and incorrectly points to admissibility at trial as the basis for their exclusion. (Doc. 52). Rosen does not offer these documents and references from other factual findings in other cases or court proceedings for any dispositive value in this case. Rather, Rosen clearly offers these documents and references to “highlight the fact that the documents [] requested exist and [] are easily accessible by Provident.” (Doc. 50 at 4). Even without these certain documents and references, Rosen’s requests are far from being “simply a ‘fishing expedition’ whose burdens or expenses ‘outweigh[ ] [their] likely benefit.’ ” Shannon v. Albertel-li Firm, P.C., 610 Fed.Appx. 866, 871 (11th Cir.2015). Rather, these documents actually reduce the discovery burden on Provident by providing additional clarity as to the information Rosen seeks to discover. Id. Therefore, Provident’s objection and motion to exclude inadmissible documents and references will be denied.

Provident’s motion approaches the prohibited line under the federal rules between a legal contention warranted by reason and existing law and sanctionable frivolousness. Fed. R. Civ. Proc. 11. A motion to strike “is a drastic remedy to be resorted to only when required for the purposes of justice ... [and] should be granted only when the pleading to be stricken has no possible relation to the controversy.” Augustus v. Bd. of Pub. Instruction of Escambia Cnty., Fla., 306 F.2d 862, 868 (5th Cir.1962); see Bonner v. Prichard, 661 F.2d 1206, 1209 (11th Cir.1981). “A court may take judicial notice of its own records and the records of inferior courts.” United States v. Rey, 811 F.2d 1453, 1457 n. 5 (11th Cir.1987); see Fed.R.Evid. 201. Under the disfavored posture of a motion to strike, Provident seeks to strike Rosen’s reference to the judicial records in other district court cases, in stark contrast to the established notions of judicial notice. (Doc. 52). Being a legal contention within the boundaries of Rule 11 is even more problematic for Provident inasmuch as Rosen merely offers these documents in his discovery motions to prove the documents exist and not the truth of the documents. See Bryant v. Avado Brands, Inc., 187 F.3d 1271, 1277 (11th Cir.1999) (distinguishing between judicial notice of public records offered only for the purpose of determining what statements the documents contain, not to prove the truth of the documents).

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308 F.R.D. 670, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 89070, 2015 WL 4139024, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rosen-v-provident-life-accident-insurance-alnd-2015.