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Court Denies Defendant’s Motion to Overrule Plaintiff’s Objections to Discovery Requests: eDiscovery Case Law

Court Denies Defendant’s Motion to Overrule Plaintiff’s Objections to Discovery Requests

In Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. et. al. v. Texas Alcoholic Beverages Commission, et. al., No. 15-00134 (W.D. Texas, Apr. 10, 2017), Texas Magistrate Judge Andrew W. Austin (no relation) denied the defendant’s motion to overrule the plaintiff’s objections to the defendant’s discovery requests, due to the fact that the plaintiff stated it was withholding documents based on each of the objections.

Case Background

In this dispute over the restriction of public companies to sell liquor in Texas, Judge Austin, after conducting a hearing to discuss the parties’ discovery dispute, noted “There was quite a bit of confusion at the hearing about precisely what relief TPSA is requesting in this motion.”  Ultimately, it was determined that the defendant was requesting the Court to overrule objections made by the plaintiff to each of the requests for production, which it assumed would mean that the plaintiff would be under “compulsion” to produce responsive documents, and any disagreements about the actual production could be addressed at that time.

Judge Austin also noted that the “cause of the confusion is not one-sided”, in that much of the confusion stemmed from the plaintiff’s “overabundance of caution” in responding under the new discovery rules, which now require that when a party makes an objection, it also state whether it is withholding any documents subject to that objection. In every one of its responses to the defendant’s requests, the plaintiff leveled one or more objection, and in each instance it stated that it is withholding documents pursuant to that objection.  As a result, the defendant was concerned that there were identified, responsive documents sitting on plaintiff’s counsel’s desk that had not been produced, any of which could be a “bombshell.”

In an exchange with plaintiff’s counsel for clarification, Judge Austin determined that the plaintiff had indicated it was withholding documents pursuant to each objection even if the plaintiff determined that the request was too broad and of such marginal relevance to even merit a search to find responsive documents and that the plaintiff expected it was likely that there were some responsive documents in its many offices and on its computer networks and that some of these documents would likely be privileged attorney client communications or work product.

Judge’s Ruling

With regard to the plaintiff’s statement that it was “withholding documents based on these objections”, Judge Austin noted that while it “may technically be accurate, it is not what the new rules were after in adding the requirement in Rule 34(b)(2)(C) that ‘an objection must state whether any responsive materials are being withheld on the basis of the objection.’”   Judge Austin indicated that “A more helpful response would have been something along the lines of ‘Based on these objections, Wal-Mart has not conducted a search for responsive documents, and while it is likely that some responsive documents may exist, Wal-Mart has not identified any such document, and is not withholding any identified document as a result of these objections.’”

Judge Austin also stated: “For most of the RFPs, Wal-Mart responded that it had already collected and produced documents in response to similar requests from the TABC, based on agreed upon search parameters, and would produce the same documents to TPSA. Further, Wal-Mart stated that it would conduct an additional limited search of additional document sources, but would otherwise not search further. TPSA failed to state in its briefs, or at the hearing, what it believed was deficient with this response. In fact, when asked at the hearing, TPSA was unable to point to a single additional document that would be responsive to its requests it believed had not already been produced. Despite this, TPSA continued to maintain that overruling Plaintiffs’ objections would solve this discovery dispute.”  Disagreeing, Judge Austin denied the defendant’s motion to compel.

So, what do you think?  Was the judge’s suggestion for handling objections in this case helpful?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

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