Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-3_09-cv-03630/USCOURTS-cand-3_09-cv-03630-2/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 442
Nature of Suit: Civil Rights Employment
Cause of Action: 28:1332 Diversity-Employment Discrimination

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United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

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United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

ASHLEY WILSON, individually and on behalf

of all others similarly situated,

Plaintiff,

 v.

KIEWIT PACIFIC CO.,

Defendant. /

No. C 09-03630 SI

ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S

MOTION TO COMPEL

Plaintiff Ashley Wilson has moved for an order compelling defendant Kiewit Pacific Company

(“Kiewit”) to produce documents in response to a discovery request propounded in November 2009. 

In this action, plaintiff brings suit on behalf of a class of California employees of Kiewit, a construction

company, alleging various violations of California wage and hour laws. Kiewit’s California operations

are divided into two divisions, Northern (“NorCal”) District and Southern (“SoCal”) District. Plaintiff

is employed in SoCal District, but seeks to represent a statewide class of Kiewit employees from both

districts. 

The discovery requests at issue seek documents related to Kiewit’s policies and practices with

respect to reimbursing employees for travel-related expenses, such as mileage and gas. After plaintiff

propounded her requests, Kiewit produced all responsive SoCal documents, but refused to produce

NorCal documents on the ground such documents are not relevant because plaintiff did not work in

NorCal District. Kiewit argues that it should not be compelled to produce SoCal documents because

plaintiff’s class definition is overbroad and plaintiff “is not similarly situated to NorCal employees who

worked under different policies, practices, and procedures from plaintiff.”

Case 3:09-cv-03630-SI Document 46 Filed 04/02/10 Page 1 of 2
United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

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Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26, “Parties may obtain discovery regarding any

nonprivileged matter that is relevant to any party’s claim or defense.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1). By

arguing that the documents plaintiff has requested will ultimately defeat her bid for class certification,

defendant essentially concedes that the documents are relevant to the central issue of whether plaintiff

may press her claims on behalf of a statewide class. The Court agrees with plaintiff that the documents

related to NorCal District are relevant and reasonably calculated to lead to admissible evidence, and

GRANTS the motion to compel insofar as it seeks NorCal documents paralleling those that have already

been produced for SoCal District. 

Kiewit asserts that plaintiff’s documents requests implicate privacy and privilege concerns, but

does not identify any specific portions of the requests that seek privileged or private information.

Kiewit may not avoid its discovery obligations merely by asserting a blanket privilege to 20 document

requests. In addition, it is difficult to understand why Kiewit now asserts a privilege with respect to

NorCal documents when it has already produced parallel So Cal documents. To the extent Kiewit

believes that a specific responsive document is privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure, Kiewit

must produce a privilege log indicating the reason why the document is privileged or protected.

Kiewit is hereby ordered to produce all non-privileged documents responsive to plaintiff’s

request, as well as a privilege log indicating the documents it believes are protected from disclosure, no

later than April 9, 2010.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: April 2, 2010 

SUSAN ILLSTON

United States District Judge

Case 3:09-cv-03630-SI Document 46 Filed 04/02/10 Page 2 of 2