Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-4_07-cv-04145/USCOURTS-cand-4_07-cv-04145-27/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 442
Nature of Suit: Civil Rights Employment
Cause of Action: 42:2000e Job Discrimination (Employment)

---

United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28 1

 Ms. Hines appears to ask for information which the Court allowed for other positions for which

she applied and was not hired. See Docket No. 229 (order, filed on 12/23/2009).

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

DONNA HINES,

Plaintiff,

v.

CALIFORNIA PUBLIC UTILITIES

COMMISSION, et al.,

Defendants.

___________________________________/

No. C-07-4145 CW (EMC)

ORDER RE DISCOVERY DISPUTE RE

PURA IV AND V POSITIONS

(Docket No. 333)

Currently pending before the Court is a discovery dispute in which Plaintiff Donna Hines

seeks information from Defendant the CPUC about two positions for which she was not hired -- a

PURA IV position and a PURA V position.1

 Having considered the parties’ positions and

accompanying submissions, the Court hereby GRANTS in part and DENIES in part Ms. Hines’s

request for discovery.

The request for discovery is denied with respect to the PURA IV position. In her deposition,

Ms. Hines admitted that she never applied for the position in the first place. See Docket No. 337

(Hines Depo. at 401). The Court acknowledges Ms. Hines’s claim in her deposition that she was

denied the opportunity to apply for the position because it was her understanding that, to apply for

the position, she needed an updated performance evaluation and, when she tried to set up a meeting

with her direct supervisor to get her performance evaluation finalized, he declined to meet with her. 

See id. (Hines Depo. at 392-93). The problem for Ms. Hines is that no one ever told her that she

Case 4:07-cv-04145-CW Document 342 Filed 05/03/10 Page 1 of 3
United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

2

needed an updated performance evaluation to apply. In fact, her understanding that she needed an

updated performance evaluation was based solely on a transcript in a different case (in state court)

involving the CPUC. See id. (Hines Depo. at 401-02). Because there is an insufficient showing that

Ms. Hines actually needed an updated performance evaluation to apply for the PURA IV position,

the fact that her direct supervisor denied her a meeting to finalize her performance evaluation is

irrelevant.

While the Court denies the request for discovery with respect to the PURA IV position, it

grants the request for discovery with respect to the PURA V position. Contrary to what the CPUC

argues, it is not clear that Ms. Hines was not qualified for the PURA V position. The Court does not

have before it any information as to who was eligible for the PURA V position (as opposed to the

PURA IV position). See Docket No. 337 (Pl.’s Supp., Att. A). The Jimenez e-mail, which suggests

that only “list eligible” persons are qualified, is not an official posting and therefore is given little

weight. See id. (Pl.’s Supp. Att. B).

For the foregoing reasons, Ms. Hines’s request for discovery is granted in part and denied in

part. The documents shall be produced within a week of the date of this order.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: May ____, 2010

_________________________ EDWARD M. CHEN

United States Magistrate Judge

Case 4:07-cv-04145-CW Document 342 Filed 05/03/10 Page 2 of 3
United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

DONNA HINES,

Plaintiff,

v.

CALIFORNIA PUBLIC UTILITIES

COMMISSION, et al.,

Defendants.

___________________________________/

No. C-07-4145 CW (EMC)

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I, the undersigned, hereby certify that I am an employee in the U.S. District Court, Northern

District of California. On the below date, I served a true and correct copy of the attached, by placing

said copy/copies in a postage-paid envelope addressed to the person(s) listed below, by depositing

said envelope in the U.S. Mail; or by placing said copy/copies into an inter-office delivery

receptacle located in the Office of the Clerk.

Donna Hines 

268 Bush Street, #3204 

San Francisco, CA 94104 

415-205-3377 

Dated: May 3, 2010 RICHARD W. WIEKING, CLERK

By: 

Betty Lee

Deputy Clerk

Case 4:07-cv-04145-CW Document 342 Filed 05/03/10 Page 3 of 3