Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-3_06-cv-07776/USCOURTS-cand-3_06-cv-07776-7/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 710
Nature of Suit: Fair Labor Standards Act
Cause of Action: 29:201 Fair Labor Standards Act

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

RICHARD PRENTICE, et al.,

Plaintiff(s),

v.

FUND FOR PUBLIC INTEREST

RESEARCH INC.,

Defendant(s).

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No. C06-7776 SC (BZ)

ORDER DENYING IN PART AND

GRANTING IN PART DEFENDANT’S

MOTION TO COMPEL

Before me is defendant’s motion to compel production of

information responsive to its first set of discovery requests

dated July 26, 2007. The motion having been fully briefed, I

see no need for a hearing. For the reasons discussed,

defendant’s motion is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. 

Defendant seeks information relating essentially to all

judicial or administrative proceedings to which each named

plaintiff has been a party or witness to during the past ten 

years. Defendant seeks this information for impeachment

purposes, see Fed. R. Evid. 609, and, in addition, argues that

it may be probative of plaintiffs’ fitness to represent the

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proposed class. See Byes v. Telechek Recovery Services, Inc.,

173 F.R.D. 421, 426-27 (E.D. La. 1997). Plaintiffs provided

responsive information relating to civil actions between them

and defendant, and responded that, within the past ten years,

none of them were criminally convicted of any act involving

dishonesty or a false statement, or otherwise related to the

merits of this case. I conclude that felony convictions may

constitute relevant and admissible evidence, and it is unclear 

from plaintiffs’ response if any such convictions exist.

Therefore, defendant’s motion is GRANTED to the extent that

plaintiffs shall provide all convictions of each named

plaintiff for any felony and for any crime involving

dishonesty or false statement within the past ten years. 

Fed. R. Evid. 609. Should there be no responsive documents,

plaintiffs shall verify this in writing.

Defendant also seeks each named plaintiff’s employment

history for ten years prior to working for defendant, recent

employment history and information related to job seeking.

Defendant argues that this information is relevant to

establish that the plaintiffs fell into the FLSA’s outside

sales exemption, excusing defendant’s obligation to pay

overtime wages to plaintiffs. See Jewel Tea Co. v. Williams,

119 F.2d 202 (10th Cir. 1941). Defendant, however, does not

claim to have hired plaintiffs because of their prior sales

ability. Id. at 208. Moreover, defendant’s request is

overbroad insofar as it seeks information regarding past

terminations and resignations, and because no case law

supports the proposition that employment after working for

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1 In its moving papers, defendant complained that

plaintiffs failed to adequately respond to several additional

requests. In its reply, however, defendant accepted plaintiffs’

assertion that they did not withhold relevant information. I

consider this dispute resolved.

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defendant is relevant to the outside sales analysis. For these

reasons, this portion of defendant’s motion is DENIED.1

Dated: August 31, 2007

 Bernard Zimmerman 

 United States Magistrate Judge

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