Wauchop v. Domino's Pizza, Inc.

138 F.R.D. 539, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11694, 1991 WL 160328
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Indiana
DecidedAugust 6, 1991
DocketNo. S90-496 (RLM)
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 138 F.R.D. 539 (Wauchop v. Domino's Pizza, Inc.) 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
Wauchop v. Domino's Pizza, Inc., 138 F.R.D. 539, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11694, 1991 WL 160328 (N.D. Ind. 1991).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

MILLER, District Judge.

Domino’s Pizza, Inc., a defendant in this personal injury suit, seeks a protective order to prevent the plaintiffs from disseminating to others information acquired by discovery in this case. The plaintiffs frankly acknowledge their intent to share the information with others. The parties also dispute the propriety of disclosure of certain information under any circumstances.

This case is one of what apparently are several lawsuits involving the thirty-minute delivery guarantee of Domino’s Pizza; the plaintiff's decedent was killed in a collision with a driver for a Domino’s franchisee.

The plaintiffs submitted twenty-two interrogatories and forty requests for production of documents on Domino’s, and three interrogatories and three requests for production on Domino’s president, Thomas Monaghan. The defendants responded to some requests, offered to produce information in response to others pursuant to a unilateral protective order, and simply objected to the remainder. The plaintiffs, with no attempt even to identify the requests to which its motion related (apparently without noticing that some requests drew responses), moved to compel. Domino’s and Mr. Monaghan responded in broad strokes, moved to strike various attachments to the plaintiffs’ motion, and requested a protective order in even broader strokes. The parties’ arguments and attachments suggest that this court is but the most recent to be treated to these arguments.

The plaintiffs claim their discovery requests pertain to four issues:

(1) whether the Domino’s driver (Christopher Braden) was the agent or servant of Domino’s at the time of the collision;
(2) whether Domino’s 30-minute delivery guarantee policy was promulgated and maintained despite the defendants’ knowledge that it repeatedly caused highway deaths and serious injuries;
(3) whether Mr. Monaghan was and is individually responsible for promulgating and maintaining the 30-minute guarantee through his control of Domino’s; and
(4) whether the 30-minute guarantee was a proximate cause of the collision. In light of the broad scope of discovery

presently allowed by Fed.R.Civ.P. 26, Oppenheimer Fund, Inc. v. Sanders, 437 U.S. 340, 98 S.Ct. 2380, 57 L.Ed.2d 253 (1978), and by the courts’ reluctance to date to impose a protective order unless the party seeking it shows good cause, Harris v. Amoco Production Co., 768 F.2d 669, 684 (5th Cir.1985), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1011, 106 S.Ct. 1186, 89 L.Ed.2d 302 (1986); In re E.E.O.C., 709 F.2d 392, 401 (5th Cir.1983), Domino’s bears the burden to show that it is entitled to a protective order and that the plaintiffs should not be allowed the discovery.

Generally, any relevant matter is discoverable unless it is privileged. The party opposing discovery has the burden of showing that interrogatories are overly burdensome ... or that the requested discovery is not relevant.
According to the Supreme Court, Rule 26(b)(1) is to be construed broadly and encompasses any matter that bears on, [544]*544or that reasonably could lead to other matters that would bear on, any issue that is or may be in the case____ A request for discovery should be considered relevant if there is “any possibility” that the information sought may be relevant to the subject matter of the action____

Golden Valley Microwave Foods, Inc. v. Weaver Popcorn Co., Inc., 132 F.R.D. 204, 212 (N.D.Ind.1990) (citations omitted). To meet its burden, the party objecting to discovery must “specifically detail the reasons why each [request] is irrelevant— whether it be by a simple affidavit or some other evidence which supports its objection.” Schaap v. Executive Industries, Inc., 130 F.R.D. 384, 387 (N.D.Ill.1990). Objections that interrogatories are “overly broad, burdensome, oppressive and irrelevant” are too general to warrant a protective order. McLeod, Alexander, Powel & Apffel, P.C. v. Quarles, 894 F.2d 1482 (5th Cir.1990); Josephs v. Harris Corp., 677 F.2d 985, 991-992 (3rd Cir.1982).

Under the present civil rules, if there is any possibility that the discovery sought may lead to information relevant to the subject matter of the litigation, then the discovery should generally be provided. Schaap v. Executive Industries, Inc., 130 F.R.D. at 387; Bowman v. Consolidated Rail Corp., 110 F.R.D. 525, 527 (N.D.Ind. 1986).

I. RULE 26(c) PROTECTIVE ORDER

The Domino’s defendants seek a protective order precluding the plaintiffs from disclosing any discovery material designated as confidential by the Domino’s defendants. They also move to strike several documents and portions of documents submitted by the plaintiffs with respect to this motion.

A. Procedural Issues

The plaintiffs submitted affidavits of two consulting experts, both of whom state that they need the information sought in order to render their opinions as to the cause of the accident. These affidavits were originally sent to Domino’s counsel in an attempt to resolve this discovery dispute and were attached as Exhibits F and G to the motion to compel. Domino’s claims these affidavits should be stricken along with paragraph 6 of the motion to compel because they refer to other litigation involving delivery drivers and because the information in previous litigation was subject to protective orders. Further, Domino’s asserts that the court, and not the expert affiants, must determine relevancy of information sought. The plaintiffs agree, but state that the experts are allowed to render their opinions. The experts’ affidavits are not legal opinions addressing the relevancy of the information; they simply show the need for this information. Domino’s argues also that the affidavits are based on materials subject to a protective order, but the experts do not disclose those materials, and Domino’s has not convinced the court that there is anything improper about using knowledge of (but not disclosing) protected information to seek the protected information from the party that initially disclosed it. That the information once was sealed does not affect its discoverability in this case. See Carter-Wallace, Inc. v. Hartz Mountain Industries, Inc., 92 F.R.D. 67, 69 (S.D.N.Y.1981) (“None of the cases or principles cited by Hartz support the absurd tenet that a party can avoid discovery in one case merely because it disclosed the same material to an adversary bound by a protective order in another case.”).

Paragraph 6 of the motion to compel refers to recent litigation and suggests that Domino’s repeatedly evades legitimate discovery. Domino’s moves to strike this paragraph, asserting that it is misleading.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
138 F.R.D. 539, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11694, 1991 WL 160328, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wauchop-v-dominos-pizza-inc-innd-1991.