State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. v. Nokes

263 F.R.D. 518, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 91026, 2009 WL 3245203
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Indiana
DecidedSeptember 30, 2009
DocketCause No. 2:08-CV-312-PPS-PRC
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 263 F.R.D. 518 (State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. v. Nokes) 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
State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. v. Nokes, 263 F.R.D. 518, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 91026, 2009 WL 3245203 (N.D. Ind. 2009).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

PAUL R. CHERRY, United States Magistrate Judge.

This matter is before the Court on (1) State Farm Fire and Casualty Company’s Motion for Protective Order [DE 58], filed by Plaintiff on September 1, 2009; (2) State Farm Fire and Casualty Company’s Amended Motion for Protective Order and Request for Fees [DE 63], filed by Plaintiff on September 4, 2009; and a(3) Motion to Compel Answers to Interrogatories and Award Fees [DE 65], filed by Defendants Donald E. Nokes, Jr. and Patricia Ann Nokes (“the Nokes Defendants”) on September 9, 2009.

On October 24, 2008, Plaintiff filed a Complaint for Declaratory Judgment, related to an underlying negligence suit arising from the molestation of a child in the Nokes Defendants’ custody. Plaintiff filed an Amended Complaint for Declaratory Judgment on January 14, 2009. Plaintiff seeks a declaratory judgment that there is no coverage under the Nokes Defendants’ insurance policy for the claims, resulting bodily injury, and any liability of the Nokes Defendants related to the underlying suit. Further, Plaintiff requests that the Court declare that Plaintiff has no duty under the Nokes Defendants’ insurance policy to either defend or indemnify the Nokes Defendants in any claim or lawsuit that may be pending related to the alleged molestation in the underlying suit.

On January 23, 2009, the Nokes Defendants filed an Answer to Amended Complaint, alleging that Plaintiff is estopped from asserting the claims in its Amended Complaint and has waived any rights to deny coverage to the Nokes Defendants.

In the instant Motion to Compel, the Nokes Defendants represent that in a previous lawsuit filed in the Starke Circuit Court, alleging that a previous foster child molested another child in the Nokes Defendants’ care, Plaintiff informed the Nokes Defendants that their insurance policy covered the claims and Plaintiff settled the lawsuit.

Plaintiff filed a Motion for Summary Judgment on July 15, 2009. In response, the Nokes Defendants submitted Interrogatories to the Plaintiff, requesting information as to the reasons why the Nokes Defendants were covered by their insurance policy in the previous molestation suit, but not the instant suit. Plaintiff objected to the Interrogatories on the basis that they were not reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence, and two of the Interrog[521]*521atones called for information protected by the work product doctrine.

As a result of Plaintiffs objections, the Nokes Defendants filed a Motion to Compel on September 2, 2009, refiled in its entirety on September 9, 2009. In the Motion to Compel, the Nokes Defendants request that the Court compel Plaintiff to answer the Interrogatories and award fees incurred in filing the Motion. In response, Plaintiff filed a Motion for Protective Order, and Amended Motion for Protective Order and Fees. In the Motion for Protective Order, Plaintiff requests that the Court issue an order forbidding discovery regarding the bases for Plaintiffs decision to provide or refuse insurance coverage in the previous molestation lawsuit or the instant suit. The Court addresses each, beginning with Plaintiffs request for a protective order.

ANALYSIS

1. Plaintiff’s Request for a Protective Order

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(e)(1) provides that:

A party or any person from whom discovery is sought may move for a protective order in the court where the action is pending — or as an alternative on matters relating to a deposition, in the court for the district where the deposition will be taken. The motion must include a certification that the movant has in good faith conferred or attempted to confer with other affected parties in an effort to resolve the dispute without court action. The court may, for good cause, issue an order to protect a party or person from annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden or expense, including one or more of the following:
(A) forbidding the disclosure or discovery

Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(c)(1) (emphasis added). A district court has discretion in deciding when a protective order is appropriate and what degree of protection is required. Felling v. Knight, 211 F.R.D. 552, 554 (S.D.Ind.2003). As Rule 26(e)(1) provides, only good cause is required in determining whether or not to issue a protective order. Beauchem v. Rockford Prods. Corp., No. 01 C 50134, 2002 WL 31155088, at *3 (N.D.Ill. Sept.27, 2002). “The rule essentially operates to balance the public’s interest in open proceedings against an individual’s private interest in avoiding ‘annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden or expense ....’” Felling, 211 F.R.D. at 554. The party seeking the protective order has the burden of showing that good cause exists for it. Id.

As a preliminary matter, Plaintiffs Motion for Protective Order and Amended Motion for Protective Order and Request for Fees are substantively the same except that the latter makes the additional request for fees under Rule 26(c)(3). Accordingly, the Court denies as moot the Motion for Protective Order.

In support of Plaintiffs Amended Motion for Protective Order and Request for Fees, Plaintiff fails to address whether good cause exists to issue a protective order. Rather, Plaintiff solely focuses on whether the Nokes Defendants’ defense of estoppel applies to the instant situation where an insurance company does not assert a policy defense in one claim, but did so in a previous claim arising out of similar circumstances. Although the issue of whether Plaintiff is precluded from arguing that coverage does not exist in the instant litigation is relevant, the Court need not address the issue at this stage of the proceedings. The issue relevant to whether the Court should grant Plaintiffs request for a protective order is whether Plaintiff has established that good cause exists to do so, because Plaintiff, as the moving party, bears the burden of showing that good cause exists. “To establish good cause, a party must submit ‘a particular and specific demonstration of fact, as distinguished from stereotyped and eonclusory statements.’ ” Felling, 211 F.R.D. at 554. Plaintiff has failed to carry its burden in the instant matter.

Plaintiff has failed to show that it will incur annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden or expense by having to participate in discovery on the issues of the bases for Plaintiffs decision to provide insurance coverage in the previous suit and refusal to [522]*522do so in the instant litigation. Plaintiff fails to allege any facts demonstrating that good cause exists to issue a protective order or that it will suffer any harm. Accordingly, the Court denies Plaintiffs Amended Motion for Protective Order and Request for Fees.1

2. The Nokes Defendants’ Motion to Compel

The Nokes Defendants represent in the Motion to Compel that they submitted Interrogatories to Plaintiff that inquired into the reasons for Plaintiffs decision to provide payment under the Nokes Defendant’s insurance policy in the previous molestation lawsuit but now deny coverage. In response to the Nokes Defendants’ Interrogatories Nos.

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263 F.R.D. 518, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 91026, 2009 WL 3245203, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-farm-fire-casualty-co-v-nokes-innd-2009.