Stiller v. Arnold

167 F.R.D. 68, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21832, 1996 WL 324650
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Indiana
DecidedJune 6, 1996
DocketNo. 3:94 cv 99 JM
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 167 F.R.D. 68 (Stiller v. Arnold) 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
Stiller v. Arnold, 167 F.R.D. 68, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21832, 1996 WL 324650 (N.D. Ind. 1996).

Opinion

ORDER

RODOVICH, United States Magistrate Judge.

This matter is before the court on the Motion for Sanctions filed by the defendants, Christine Tomal-Stiller, Annette Tomal, and Daniel Tomal, on March 25, 1996. For the reasons set forth below, the motion is GRANTED IN PART.

Background

Since 1859, federal courts have lacked jurisdiction over domestic relations matters filed in federal court based upon diversity of citizenship. Barber v. Barber, 21 How. 582, 16 L.Ed. 226 (1859). See also Ankenbrandt v. Richards, 504 U.S. 689, 693, 112 S.Ct. 2206, [70]*702209, 119 L.Ed.2d 468 (1992); Allen v. Allen, 48 F.3d 259, 261 (7th Cir.1995). Regardless of the origin of the doctrine, it has excluded from the federal courts lawsuits which involve the petty and vindictive conduct frequently associated with divorce proceedings. Unfortunately, the Stiller marital dispute does not come within the domestic relations exception first articulated in Barber.

A detailed recitation of the underlying facts is not necessary to resolve the pending discovery dispute. The plaintiff, Ernest W. Stiller, Jr., is a physician and was practicing medicine in LaPorte, Indiana, for a substantial period of time prior to 1992. The defendant, Christine Tomal-Stiller, was the wife of Stiller and also worked in his office. The complaint alleges that Tomal-Stiller, in concert with other defendants, embezzled approximately four million dollars during her employment at her husband’s office. The complaint further alleges that when divorce proceedings were initiated, Tomal-Stiller, and other defendants, conspired to accuse Stiller of Medicaid fraud. As a result of the conspiracy, Stiller was arrested and his office was searched by the law enforcement defendants.

The parties first appeared before this court on September 15,1995. In an effort to expedite discovery, the parties were ordered to exchange certain documents by October 31, 1995. On December 12, 1995, TomalStiller filed a motion to compel based upon a dispute over medical authorizations. In an Order dated January 23, 1996, Stiller was ordered to execute medical authorizations. The pending motion relates to the documents ordered produced at the September 15 status conference and the medical authorizations required by the January 23 Order.

Discussion

Production of Documents

The production of documents is governed by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34. In particular, a party’s response must comply with Rule 34(b) which provides in part:

The party upon whom the request is served shall serve a written response within 30 days after the service of the request____ The response shall state, with respect to each item or category, that inspection and related activities will be permitted as requested, unless the request is objected to, in which event the reasons for the objection shall be stated____ The party submitting the request may move for an order under Rule 37(a) with respect to any objection to or other failure to respond to the request or any part thereof, or any failure to permit inspection as requested. A party who produces documents for inspection shall produce them as they are kept in the usual course of business or shall organize and label them to correspond with the categories in the request, (emphasis added)

Stiller has not objected to the production of the documents requested. In fact, approximately 7,000 pages of documents have been delivered to Data Graphics, a commercial printing service, for distribution. Stiller’s attorney has instructed the defendants to make arrangements for purchasing copies of the documents. However, Data Graphics will not permit the defendants to examine the documents before they are photocopied.

The defendants have raised two objections to this procedure. First, the defendants contend that Stiller has not complied with his obligation to “organize and label” the documents as required by Rule 34(b). Second, the defendants contend that they are entitled to inspect the documents before paying for the cost of the reproduction. In fact, the defendants believe that they already have copies of many of these documents and that being required to order all 7,000 pages would be a needless expense.

Stiller has failed to cite any authority which supports the procedures he has established for producing the documents requested. Rule 34(b) clearly grants a party the right to inspect documents which have been requested. Although the parties do not dispute that the defendants should be required to absorb the duplication costs, nothing in Rule 34(b) suggests that the defendants should be required to pay for documents which they already have or do not believe are relevant to the litigation.

[71]*71Many discovery requests, and responses thereto, can be used to harass opposing parties or to increase the cost of litigation. For this reason, Rule 34(b) places the obligation on the responding party to “organize and label” the documents which are produced for inspection. Producing 7,000 pages of documents in no apparent order does not comply with a party’s obligation under Rule 34(b).

Similar conduct was found to be sanetionable in Govas v. Chalmers, 965 F.2d 298 (7th Cir.1992). In that case, the plaintiffs produced approximately 9,000 documents without attempting to categorize them or relate the documents to discovery requests. Because of prior dilatory conduct, the district court dismissed the plaintiffs’ claim as a sanction under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(d). The Court of Appeals held that dismissal was an appropriate sanction because the plaintiff had demonstrated “a pattern of dilatory and evasive discovery tactics....” 965 F.2d at 303. See also ITT Life Insurance Company v. Thomas Nastoff, Inc., 108 F.R.D. 664, 666 (N.D.Ind.1985) (construing then Rule 33(c) which permitted a party to produce business records in response to an interrogatory but required the party “to specify the records from which the answer may be derived ... [with] sufficient detail to permit the interrogating party to locate and to identify ... the records from which the answer may be ascertained”).

As previously stated, Stiller was ordered to produce these documents at the September 15 status conference. Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(b)(2),

the court shall require the party failing to obey the order or the attorney advising that party or both to pay the reasonable expenses, including attorneys fees, caused by the failure, unless the court finds that the failure was substantially justified or that other circumstances make an award of expenses unjust.

Stiller has failed to cite any authority in support of the procedures which he outlined for producing the required documents. In fact, those procedures are contrary to the clear text of Rule 34(b).

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Bluebook (online)
167 F.R.D. 68, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21832, 1996 WL 324650, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stiller-v-arnold-innd-1996.