United States v. Taylor

166 F.R.D. 356, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5491, 1996 WL 197894
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. North Carolina
DecidedFebruary 27, 1996
DocketNo. 3:89CV00231
StatusPublished
Cited by165 cases

This text of 166 F.R.D. 356 (United States v. Taylor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Taylor, 166 F.R.D. 356, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5491, 1996 WL 197894 (M.D.N.C. 1996).

Opinion

ORDER

ELIASON, United States Magistrate Judge.

The matter before the Court concerns the extent of the duty which Fed.R.Civ.P. 30(b)(6) imposes on a corporation or other entity to conduct an investigation prior to its deposition. Plaintiff United States has served a Rule 30(b)(6) notice of deposition on defendant Union Carbide Corporation (UCC).1 In like fashion, the Court must also decide the obligations of investigation imposed on a party by Fed.R.Civ.P. 36, in this case by plaintiffs Rule 36 request that UCC authenticate certain documents. Finally, the Court resets the expert discovery schedule as to that phase of this case which involves defendants’ liability to plaintiff.

7.

Facta

The situation is complicated by two factors. First, this is a CERCLA2 case involving numerous defendants. Second, the case has been pending since 1989 and the incidents themselves go back decades. Knowledgeable people have died, memories have faded, and the corporate division of UCC (i.e. Grower Service) was sold years prior to the initiation of this litigation.

In this action, the United States seeks to recover costs of cleaning up a Superfund site known as the “Aberdeen Pesticide Site.” In addition, plaintiff now claims UCC is liable, not just for its own acts of pollution, but also as an owner or operator by virtue of its control of Grower Service. Plaintiff did not assert this theory until October 1995, approximately one month before fact discovery in the first phase of this case (defendants’ liability to plaintiff) was scheduled to conclude. While the issue was presented earlier in a third-party complaint and cross-claims by the “other defendants,”3 the CMSO provided for a later discovery deadline on those claims because they would not be tried until after the issue of defendants’ liability to plaintiff had been decided. Thus, by amending its complaint, plaintiff has moved discovery on this more complex issue to the forefront.

The deposition topics address owner/operator claims brought against UCC by plaintiff in its Fourth Amended Complaint, and by certain defendants in cross-claims. Moreover, the deposition topics cover time periods from 1959 through 1981. Because UCC sold Grower in 1981, most of the individuals with personal knowledge about the UCC/Grower relationship may no longer be employed by UCC or may be deceased.

Because of the above problems, UCC moved for a protective order quashing the Rule 30(b)(6) notice. The Court addressed that motion at a status hearing held November 16, 1995, and on November 22, 1995, the Court entered a written order granting in part and denying in part UCC’s motion for a protective order. (Pleading no. 707). On November 30, 1995, UCC filed a motion for clarification and a motion for modification of that order. On December 15, 1995, the Court granted UCC’s motion for clarification, but denied the motion for modification. (Pleading no. 733).

The parties proceeded with the Rule 30(b)(6) deposition of UCC on December 19, 1995. Problems arose and on December 22, 1995 the Court conducted a conference call. Plaintiff and the other defendants presented evidence (including an excerpted transcript of testimony given at the deposition) indicat[359]*359ing that UCC had not adequately prepared witnesses for the deposition as required by this Court’s, decision in Marker v. Union Fidelity Life Ins. Co., 125 F.R.D. 121 (M.D.N.C.1989). UCC replied that it did not believe it was subject to the Marker requirements based on prior communications where it felt the Court approved that UCC,

would provide the information that it reasonably could for the topics set out on the 30(b)(6) notice of deposition, and after that time period, Carbide would then do its best to identify the retired employees that would be in a position to speak on the topics where we simply have no current corporate knowledge. That is, where we don’t have documents, where we don’t have current employees who could testify on the items set out in the 30(b)(6) notice of deposition.

(Transcript of Telephonic Conference Call Hearing, Dec. 22,1995, at 5).4

The Court informed UCC that this procedure did not meet their obligations and that in prior communications the Court had intended only to make UCC aware that if it did not have any employees who had any knowledge about a topic, it was not required to provide an answer and thereby take a stance or assert a position, but as a consequence, it also could not offer any evidence, direct or rebuttal, or argument at trial as to that topic. The situation where a corporation lacks employees with knowledge about a topic has not received extensive judicial attention. Therefore, after giving UCC every benefit of the doubt in regard to this potential misunderstanding, and finding it to be a mitigating circumstance, the Court decided not to sanction UCC for responses during the deposition that the Court otherwise found unacceptable.

The parties were instructed to draft a proposed order reflecting the Court’s concerns regarding UCC’s failure to comply with the requirements of Rule 30(b)(6) and Marker, and the Court’s decisions regarding potential sanctions, as discussed in the conference call. Unable to agree on a joint proposal, plaintiff and certain defendants submitted one proposal, and UCC submitted another. The Court has utilized those parts where the parties agreed and has resolved their differences in this Order.

II.

Resolution of Disputed, Issues

The following discussion reflects the Court’s reasoning in resolving some of the more important of the disputed issues concerning the Court’s pronouncements during the telephone conference call. Other disputes are resolved without discussion and are merely set forth in the numbered provisions of the Order below.

UCC proposed that “[a]ny designee testifying in a particular area shall be deemed competent to testify in that area at trial, and such deposition testimony shall be admissible by any party at the trial of this matter.” (UCC Proposed order, at 1, ¶2, Jan. 18,1996). The Court agrees with plaintiff that this provision does not comport with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or the Federal Rules of Evidence. Discoverable matters are not necessarily admissible at trial, and Fed.R.Civ.P. 32 provides the proper mechanism for using depositions at trial. Furthermore, the Federal Rules of Evidence must be followed in determining the competency of trial witnesses.

IIA.

Rule 30(b)(6) Depositions

UCC further proposed that the order state that:

If despite good faith efforts by Union Carbide to prepare its designees, a designee is unable to respond to a specific area of [360]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
166 F.R.D. 356, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5491, 1996 WL 197894, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-taylor-ncmd-1996.