Witten v. A.H. Smith & Co.

100 F.R.D. 446, 14 Fed. R. Serv. 1130, 40 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 243, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20819, 35 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 34,790, 33 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1238
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedJanuary 3, 1984
DocketCiv. A. No. M-82-3198
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 100 F.R.D. 446 (Witten v. A.H. Smith & Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Witten v. A.H. Smith & Co., 100 F.R.D. 446, 14 Fed. R. Serv. 1130, 40 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 243, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20819, 35 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 34,790, 33 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1238 (D. Md. 1984).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

JAMES R. MILLER, Jr., District Judge.

The plaintiff, John W. Witten, filed this putative class action alleging unlawful employment practices in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., 42 U.S.C. § 1981, and 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3). (Paper No. 1). The plaintiff alleges that the defendants, A.H. Smith and Company, A.H. Smith Sand & Gravel Co., Davis Sand & Gravel Corp., A.H. Smith, Sr., and A.H. Smith, Jr., discriminated against him and others similarly situated on the basis of race in the setting and payment of salaries, benefits, and in other terms and conditions of employment. The plaintiff alleges that he was employed by A.H. Smith & Co., a Maryland corporation owned by A.H. Smith, Sr. (Paper No. 1, ¶ 3(e)), and that he performed his duties at A.H. Smith Sand & Gravel Co. and Davis Sand & Gravel Corp. (Id., ¶ 9(a)). A.H. Smith, Jr. is alleged to be an employee of A.H. Smith & Co., and chief of operations for A.H. Smith Sand & Gravel Co. and Davis Sand & Gravel Corp.

On May 31, 1983, the plaintiff filed a request for the production of documents directed to A.H. Smith & Co., Davis Sand & Gravel Corp., and A.H. Smith Sand & Gravel Co. (Paper No. 12). On August 18, 1983, “A.H. Smith (hereafter ‘Defendant’ or ‘the Company’)” (Paper No. 20, at 1) responded to the plaintiff’s request for production of documents. (Paper No. 20). The defendant Davis Sand & Gravel Corp, also filed its response. (Paper No. 21). On September 6, 1983, the plaintiff, being dissatisfied with the responses, filed a Motion to Compel in connection with his request for production of documents. (Paper No. 24). Thereafter, counsel complied with Local Rule 34, and subsequently, the defendants filed an opposition relating to the two unresolved issues: (1) the geographic scope over which the plaintiff may compel discovery, and (2) whether the plaintiff is entitled to discovery of the defendants’ affirmative action plan materials. (Paper No. 29).

I. Geographic Limitations on Discovery

In cases in which discrimination is alleged on both an individual and a class wide basis, the permitted discovery must be sufficiently broad in scope to provide the plaintiff the opportunity to obtain the necessary evidence to satisfy the requirements of Rule 23 and, if a genuine class exists under that rule, to prove the allegations of class wide discrimination, General Telephone Co. v. Falcon, 457 U.S. 147, 102 S.Ct. 2364, 72 L.Ed.2d 740 (1982); Doctor v. Seaboard Coast Line R. Co., 540 F.2d 699, 707 (4th Cir.1976). Nevertheless, the scope of discovery must not be so broad that it becomes overly burdensome, irrelevant, or an invasion of privileged matters, National Organization for Women v. Sperry Rand, 88 F.R.D. 272, 277 (D.Conn.1980). While a claim of employment discrimination will invariably require a broad investigation, “[i]t is an abuse of F.R.Civ.P. 23 to make unsupported charges of class wide discrimination in the hope that broad scale discovery may turn up some evidence to support the charges.” Cutner v. Atlantic Richfield Co., 16 F.E.P. 743, 744 (E.D.Pa.1977). Accordingly, discovery is subject to reasonable limitations imposed by the trial court in its discretion, Trevino v. Celanese Corp., 701 F.2d 397 (5th Cir.1983); Sperry Rand, 88 F.R.D. at 277, after balancing the needs and rights of both plaintiffs and defendants.

Geographic limitations have been imposed by the courts in class employment discrimination cases when the plaintiff seeks discovery from every facility operated by the defendant. See, e.g., Falcon v. General Telephone Co., 626 F.2d 369, 376 (5th Cir.1980), rev’d on other grounds, 457 U.S. 147, 102 S.Ct. 2364, 72 L.Ed.2d 740 (1982) (discovery

[448]*448limited by the district court to only one division approved by the Fifth Circuit which added that manageability of the class was an appropriate factor to consider); Sperry Rand, 88 F.R.D. at 278 & n. 8 (discovery limited to three Sperry Rand facilities, the one where the plaintiff was employed, and two facilities to which the plaintiff had requested transfers); McCray v. Standard Oil Co., 76 F.R.D. 490, 500 (N.D.Ill.1977) (scope of investigation limited to policies and practices emanating from Standard’s Chicago headquarters where the plaintiff was employed); Canty v. Phillip Morris U.S.A., 18 F.E.P. 86, 87-88 (E.D.Pa. 1978) (recognizing that the policies of each division may be different so as to defeat a nationwide class and, therefore, the court only certified a class of two regions whose personnel activities were centered in the same office, but required nationwide statistics be provided by the defendants); Cutner, 16 F.E.P. at 743 (plaintiff’s discovery requests on a national scale denied); Hinton v. Entex Inc., 93 F.R.D. 336 (E.D.Tex. 1981) (discovery limited to one facility when plaintiff made no specific allegations pertaining to any other facility of the defendant and the local facility was responsible for most employment decisions); Joslin Dry Goods Co. v. EEOC, 483 F.2d 178, 183-84 (10th Cir.1973) (discovery limited only to Joslin’s downtown Denver store where the record before the court was adequate to permit an inference that each Joslin store was a separate employing unit); McClain v. Mack Trucks, Inc., 85 F.R.D. 53, 62-63 (E.D. Pa.1979) (answers to interrogatories restricted geographically to Mack’s Allentown facility where its four American manufacturing and assembly plants were operated independently of each other with regard to management, personnel, employment records, hiring, promoting, discharging and other employment practices).

The plaintiff alleges in his complaint that he applied for a position with A.H. Smith & Co., and was hired at A.H. Smith & Co. (Paper Nos. 1 & 17 ¶ 9(a)). He further alleges that he performed his duties at Davis Sand & Gravel Corporation in Clinton, Md. and at A.H. Smith Sand & Gravel Co. in Brandywine, Md. (Id.; Paper No. 24 at 2; Paper No. 29, Witten Deposition at 74). In his deposition, he states that he was paid by Davis Sand & Gravel Corp. (id. at 123), was hired and fired by an A.H. Smith & Company official in Brandywine, (id. at 130), and that Mr. Wheeler Green, Safety Director, EEO Officer & Minority Business Enterprises Officer for A.H. Smith, testified at EEOC proceedings that the payroll departments of A.H. Smith and Davis Sand & Gravel Corp. are under the supervision of the same person. (Id. 212-13). He further testified at deposition that he had no knowledge as to who set the wage and benefit policies for A.H. Smith & Co., or how they were set. (Id. at 214-16).

In their opposition to the Motion to Compel, the defendants contend that A.H.

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100 F.R.D. 446, 14 Fed. R. Serv. 1130, 40 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 243, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20819, 35 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 34,790, 33 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1238, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/witten-v-ah-smith-co-mdd-1984.