Taber v. Cascade Designs Incoporated

District Court, W.D. Washington·Decided April 25, 2023·No. 2:20-cv-01633·Unknown

Opinion

WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON Plaintiff, CASE NO. 2:20-cv-01633-TL v. ORDER ON PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO COMPEL DISCOVERY CASCADE DESIGNS, INCORPORATED, RESPONSES AND DETERMINE DAVID BURROUGHS, JOHN SUFFICIENCY OF RESPONSES TO BURROUGHS, JOHN GEVAERT, JAMES REQUESTS FOR ADMISSION COTTER, ERIC HOBBS, STEVE MCCLURE, HARRY ROSS, JANE/JOHN DOES 1 THROUGH 10, and the marital community of each non-business Defendant, CASCASE DESIGNS, INC. OPEN BENEFITS, CASCADE DESIGNS, INC. Defendants.

Plaintiff Alexandra Taber seeks a motion to compel Defendants (collectively “Cascade”) to furnish further responses to interrogatories and requests for production and to determine the sufficiency of Cascade’s responses to requests for admission. Dkt. 147. Plaintiff also seeks $7,000 in attorney fees pursuant to Rule 37(a)(5). Id. Plaintiff originally filed two motions (Dkts. 132 and 133), which were withdrawn and are consolidated in Dkt. 147. Cascade’s response was filed to the original motions (Dkt. 141). In the consolidated motion, Plaintiff seeks an order compelling further responses to Interrogatories 1, 3, ORDER ON PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO COMPEL DISCOVERY RESPONSES AND 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 17, 20, 21; RFPs 1, 7, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 27, 28, 34, 35, 38, 39, 44, 47 and that the Court deem admitted all Requests for Admission. The Court reviews Plaintiff’s discovery requests in the order set forth in Plaintiff’s consolidated motion. Nature of Action

Plaintiff sued Cascade alleging wrongful termination and for alleged wage withholdings stemming from delayed HSA contributions. Dkt. 1-1. In 2017, Plaintiff elected to contribute $6,300 to her HSA account and Cascade was to contribute $600. Dkt. 85 at 15, 26. Due to banking errors, Cascade untimely deposited these amounts into Plaintiff’s HSA account, shortly after the 2017 contribution deadline. Dkt. 59 at 2-3, 60 at 1-3. In 2018, Cascade compensated Plaintiff $8,545.77 for alleged damages suffered. Dkt. 64 at 5, 10, 20. Plaintiff argues the late HSA contribution constitutes unlawful wage withholding, and seeks extensive damages, penalties, and fees. Two years later, Cascade laid off Plaintiff as part of a reduction in force. Dkt. 91 at 37. Plaintiff argues this was wrongful, claiming it was either because she complained about the alleged wage withholding or because of her age or gender.

On July 21, 2022, the Court dismissed fourteen of Plaintiff’s claims. Dkt. 119. Plaintiff’s Third Amended Complaint was filed on August 1, 2022. Dkt. 123. Standard of Review “Parties may [only] obtain discovery regarding any nonprivileged matter that is relevant to any party’s claim or defense and proportional to the needs of the case.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1). “[U]focused fishing expeditions” are discouraged by Fed R. Civ. P. 26(b) and by Local Rule 26(f). Cabell v. Zorro Prods., Inc., 294 F.R.D. at 607 (W.D. Wash. 2013). ORDER ON PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO COMPEL DISCOVERY RESPONSES AND Relevant information is limited “for purposes of discovery [as] information reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.” Lauer v. Longevity Med. Clinic PLLC, C13-0860-JCC, 2014 WL 5471983, at *4 (W.D. Wash. Oct. 29, 2014). “To further the application of the relevance and proportionality standard[s], discovery requests and related

responses should be reasonably targeted, clear, and as specific as possible.” Luken v. Christensen Grp. Inc., C16-5214 RBL, 2018 WL 1994121, at *1 (W.D. Wash. Apr. 27, 2018); see also LCR 26(f). Discovery requests that are not “targeted, clear, and as specific as possible” are facially overbroad. See, DeFreitas v. Tillinghast, 2:12-CV-00235-JLR, 2013 WL 209277, at *3 (W.D. Wash. Jan. 17, 2013). “In determining whether sought discovery is proportional to the needs of the case, the Court considers the importance of the issues at stake in the action, the amount in controversy, the parties’ relative access to relevant information, the parties’ resources, the importance of the discovery in resolving the issues, and whether the burden or expense of the proposed discovery outweighs its likely benefit.” Opico v. Convergent Outsourcing, Inc., 2:18- CV-1579, 2019 WL 3067202, at *3 (W.D. Wash. July 12, 2019) (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P.

26(b)(1)). Discovery in Dispute A. Interrogatories and Requests for Production (“RFP”) On December 28, 2021, Plaintiff propounded her first discovery requests. Dkt. 142, Declaration of Scott M. Prange, at ¶ 3, Ex. A. Cascade responded to the Interrogatories on January 24 and RFPs on January 27, 2022. On January 28, 2022, this matter was stayed pending a ruling on Cascade’s motion for partial summary judgment. Dkt. 112. The Court lifted the stay on July 26, 2022. Dkts. 113 and 121. Cascade supplemented its responses on February 21 and ORDER ON PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO COMPEL DISCOVERY RESPONSES AND March 31, 2023. Cascade withheld two privileged documents (in addition to privileged communications about the litigation after the suit was filed) for which a privilege log was provided. Id., at ¶ 5, Ex. C. 1. Interrogatories 1, 9, 20, 21 and RFP 7, 34, 35, 44, and 47

Interrogatory 1 asks Cascade to provide “an explanation” as to “any claim, damage, or remedy sought in this lawsuit or asserted as an affirmative defense,” which is denied, and to state, “all facts that support such denial or assertion.”

Interrogatory 9 asks Cascade to “list all steps” taken to ensure that Plaintiff’s HSA contributions were deposited. Interrogatory 20 asks Cascade to identify each document and object that memorializes facts at issue in this lawsuit or discusses or supports the claims, denials of liability, defenses, offsets, damages, and/or remedies sought in this case. Interrogatory 21 asks Cascade to identify each of Plaintiff’s nearly 450 allegations in her 66-page Complaint that is denied, explain why it is denied, and state all facts that support the denial. RFP 7 asks Cascade to produce all documents referenced in its initial disclosures. RFP 34 asks Cascade to produce all documents for each allegation set forth in Section I through IV of the Second Amended Complaint that are denied.

RFP 35 asks Cascade to produce all documents for the past six years that “identifies, memorializes, enumerates, describes, explains, or discusses the following: each person who worked for CDI in a position, department, or division of CDI that was involved in the activities and/or events described in the Second Amended Complaint; each person who has knowledge of the events, activities, or claims at issue in this lawsuit regardless of whether that person worked for CDI; each such person’s job position(s)/title(s) at CDI during the time of the events at issue; the dates that person held such position(s)/title(s) at CDI; the manner or method in which that person gained such knowledge; and the content of that person’s knowledge about the activities and/or events described in the Second Amended Complaint. RFP 44 asks Cascade to produce all document for the past eight years, that “identifies, memorializes, enumerates, describes, explains, or discusses the following: each person, business, or entity that you believe may have information or documents that address the facts, claims, cross claims, counterclaims, defenses, damages, remedies, denials of liability, and/or offsets in this case.” ORDER ON PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO COMPEL DISCOVERY RESPONSES AND RFP 47 asks Cascade to produce all documents that “identifies, memorializes, enumerates, describes, explains, or discusses the following: the facts, claims, cross claims, counterclaims, defenses, damages, remedies, denials of liability, and/or offsets in this case.”

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Taber v. Cascade Designs Incoporated, (W.D. Wash. 2023).

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