Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-azd-3_10-cv-08041/USCOURTS-azd-3_10-cv-08041-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 445
Nature of Suit: Americans with Disabilities Act - Employment
Cause of Action: 28:1441 Petition for Removal - Employment Discrimination

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NOT FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

William E. Lewin, 

Plaintiff, 

vs.

Nackard Bottling Company, et al., 

Defendants. 

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No. CV 10-8041-PCT-FJM

ORDER

The court has before it plaintiff's "Motion to Quash Subpoenas and/or Motion for

Protective Order," (doc. 28), defendant's response (doc. 30), and plaintiff's reply (doc. 31).

Plaintiff, William Lewin, filed an employment action under state and federal law

against defendant on January 8, 2010 (doc. 1). On September 15, 2010, defendant issued

subpoenas to five non-party, former employers seeking all employment records and

documents, including all written materials that would be housed in plaintiff's personnel file.

In response, plaintiff filed a motion to quash the subpoenas and/or a motion for protective

order on the grounds that the employment records are private and irrelevant. Defendant

argues plaintiff's employment records are relevant to mitigation efforts, plaintiff's

qualifications, potential after-acquired evidence, and plaintiff's credibility.

Rule 26(c)(1), Fed. R. Civ. P., provides that "upon motion by a party . . . and for good

cause shown, the court . . . may make any order which justice requires to protect a party or

Case 3:10-cv-08041-FJM Document 35 Filed 11/04/10 Page 1 of 3
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 The scope of discovery under a Rule 45 subpoena to non-parties is the same as that

permitted under Rule 26. See Liles v. Stuart Weitzman, LLC, No. 09-61448-CIV, 2010 WL

1839229, at * 2 (S.D. Fla. May 6, 2010).

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person from annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden or expense."1 The

party seeking the protective order must demonstrate good cause. Id. Here, plaintiff has met

his burden in demonstrating that defendant's subpoenas are overbroad, burdensome, and seek

information unlikely to lead to admissible evidence.

First, defendant's request to obtain plaintiff's entire personnel file from five former

employers is, on its face, overbroad and not reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery

of admissible evidence. See Maxwell v. Health Center of Lack City, Inc., No. 3:05-CV1056, -J-32MCR, at * 3 ( M.D. Fla. June 6, 2006). By failing to limit its subpoena to certain

categories of documents, we find that defendant is merely trying to engage in a fishing

expedition. Contrast Abu v. Priamco Sea-Tact Inc., No. C08-1167RSL, 2009 WL 279036,

at * 2 (W.D. Wash. Fed. 5, 2009) (upholding a subpoena for employment records where the

issuing party had limited it to certain categories of information).

Second, we find that the subpoenas are not likely to lead to relevant, admissible

evidence, and therefore not discoverable under Rule 26(b)(1), Fed. R. Civ. P. Defendant

seeks employment records from former employers. Mitigation relates to plaintiff's diligence

in seeking employment after termination. The discovery of former employment records has

no bearing on that issue.

On the issue of employment qualifications and after-acquired evidence, though the

after-acquired evidence doctrine provides employers a mechanism to limit an employee's

remedies based on evidence found during discovery, it should not be used as an independent

basis to initiate discovery. Rivera v. NIBCO, Inc., 364 F.3d 1057, 1070-71 (9th Cir. 2004)

(stating that district courts should play a critical role in preventing defendants from using the

doctrine as a sword); see also Liles, 2010 WL 1839229, at * 4-5 (discussing a number of

district court cases applying protective orders in the context of the after-acquired evidence

defense). Defendant's assertion that plaintiff may have lied on his employment application

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about having a high school degree is an insufficient justification for the after-acquired

evidence defense because defendant has failed to show that the completion of high-school

was a pre-requisite for the job. See id. (stating that before an employer may use the afteracquired evidence defense it must meet its burden of showing, had it been aware of that

evidence, it would have discharged the employee).

Finally, an attack on plaintiff's credibility by introducing evidence of his character in

another employment setting is likely inadmissible propensity evidence under Rule 404(a),

Fed. R. Evid. See Zubulake v. UBS Wharburg, LLC, 382 F. Supp. 2d 536, 541 (S.D.N.Y.

2005). 

Therefore, IT IS ORDERED GRANTING plaintiff's motion to quash subpoenas and

motion for protective order (doc. 28).

DATED this 4th day of November, 2010.

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