Weiss v. Amoco Oil Co.

142 F.R.D. 311, 7 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 786, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12366, 62 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 42,609, 58 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1352, 1992 WL 102863
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Iowa
DecidedMay 7, 1992
DocketNo. 4-90-CV-70742
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 142 F.R.D. 311 (Weiss v. Amoco Oil Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Weiss v. Amoco Oil Co., 142 F.R.D. 311, 7 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 786, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12366, 62 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 42,609, 58 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1352, 1992 WL 102863 (S.D. Iowa 1992).

Opinion

ORDER

BENNETT, United States Magistrate Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Arnold Weiss contends Defendant Amoco Oil Company’s discharge of him, after co-employee Angel Streebin made allegations of sexual harassment against Weiss, constitutes wrongful termination. The matter is before the court on the motion of non-party witness Streebin for a protective order filed on February 11, 1992. Streebin seeks to prohibit Weiss’s discovery of her sexual history. Weiss resists the motion and requests that he be permitted to engage in discovery concerning Streebin’s sexual history with other Amoco Oil Company employees during her employment with Amoco of which Weiss has preexisting knowledge. An expedited hearing on this and other motions was held on February 11, 1992. The court ordered that Streebin’s deposition could take place as scheduled, but prohibited Weiss from inquiring into Streebin’s prior sexual conduct and behavior. The parties were given thirty days in which to brief the motion. The matter is now fully submitted.1

For the sole purpose of deciding the pending motion, the court finds from the complaint and from the record the following facts.

II. BACKGROUND

Weiss was employed by Amoco from March, 1964 through May, 1990. Amoco has a company policy against sexual harassment.2 Amoco terminated Weiss’s employment on May 18, 1990, on the basis [313]*313that Weiss had sexually harassed female employees of Amoco, Jude Gustafson and Angel Streebin. Streebin alleged that Weiss called her at home in May, 1990.3 Streebin and Weiss dated and saw each other socially.

Streebin had cards pinned up at her work station which were of a sexual nature, and sent a male employee, Daryl Mosley, a birthday card which showed the torso of an adult female clad in a bikini swim suit. Streebin made jokes of a sexual nature with other employees, and discussed her sexual activities while at work.

III. DISCUSSION

A. Introduction. A district court is afforded wide discretion in its handling of discovery matters, Cook v. Kartridg Pak Co., 840 F.2d 602, 604 (8th Cir.1988), and in limiting discovery where there is a showing of good cause. Kaufman v. Edelstein, 539 F.2d 811, 821 (2d Cir.1976); Ross v. Bolton, 106 F.R.D. 22, 23 (S.D.N.Y.1985). In Cook, the court held:

A district court must be free to use and control pretrial procedure in furtherance of the orderly administration of justice. O’Neal v. Riceland Foods, 684 F.2d 577, 581 (8th Cir.1982). A district court is afforded wide discretion in its handling of discovery matters, and its decisions will be upheld “unless, in the totality of the circumstances, its rulings are seen to be a gross abuse of discretion resulting in fundamental unfairness in the trial of the case.”

Id. (quoting Voegeli v. Lewis, 568 F.2d 89, 96 (8th Cir.1977)).

Discovery rules are to be broadly and liberally construed in order to fulfill discovery’s purposes of providing both parties with “information essential to the proper litigation of all relevant facts, to eliminate surprise, and to promote settlement.” In re Hawaii Corp., 88 F.R.D. 518, 524 (D.Hawaii 1980); see Gary Plastic Packaging Corp. v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fen-ner & Smith, Inc., 756 F.2d 230, 236 (2d Cir.1985); see also Oppenheimer Fund, Inc. v. Sanders, 437 U.S. 340, 351, 98 S.Ct. 2380, 2389, 57 L.Ed.2d 253 (1978); Lozano v. Maryland Casualty Co., 850 F.2d 1470, 1472 (11th Cir.1988).4

B. Fed.R. Civ.P. 26(c). Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c) provides

Upon motion by a party or the person from whom discovery is sought, and for good cause shown, the court in which the action is pending or alternatively, on matters relating to a deposition, the court in the district where the deposition is to be taken may make any order where justice requires to protect a party or person from annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden or expense, including one or more of following: (1) that the discovery not be had; (2) .that the discovery may be had only on specified terms and conditions, including a designation of the time and place; (3) that the discovery may be had only by a method of discovery other than that selected by the party seeking discovery; (4) that certain matters not be inquired into, or that the scope of the discovery be limited to certain matters; (5) that discovery be conducted with no one present except persons designated by the court; (6) that a deposition after being sealed be opened only by order of the court; (7) that a trade secret or other confidential research, development, or commercial information not be disclosed or be disclosed only in a designated way; (8) that the parties simultaneously file specified documents or information enclosed in sealed envelopes to be opened as directed by the court.
If the motion for a protective order is denied in whole or in part, the court may, on such terms and conditions as are just, order that any party or person provide or [314]*314permit such discovery. The provisions of Rule 37(a)(4) apply to the award of expenses incurred in relation to the motion.

The party or person seeking a protective order bears the burden of making the “good cause” showing that the information being sought falls within the scope of Rule 26(c), and that she will be harmed by its disclosure. Iowa Beef Processors, Inc. v. Bagley, 601 F.2d 949, 954 n. 5 (8th Cir.), cert. denied sub nom. Iowa Beef Processors, Inc. v. Smith, 441 U.S. 907, 99 S.Ct. 1997, 60 L.Ed.2d 376 (1979); see General Dynamics Corp. v. Selb Mfg. Co., 481 F.2d 1204, 1212 (8th Cir.1973), cert. denied, 414 U.S. 1162, 94 S.Ct. 926, 39 L.Ed.2d 116 (1974).

C. The Merits. Amoco raises two issues in regard to Streebin’s motion: first, whether Iowa public policy prevents the disclosure of such information except in limited circumstances; and second, whether the information is irrelevant to Weiss’s cause of action.

(i). Public policy argument. The initial question to be addressed is whether Iowa public policy exemplified in Iowa Code § 668.15

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142 F.R.D. 311, 7 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 786, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12366, 62 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 42,609, 58 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1352, 1992 WL 102863, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/weiss-v-amoco-oil-co-iasd-1992.