Opinion ID: 203374
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Relevance versus Admissibility

Text: CAPEEM asserts that the Massachusetts district court applied the standard for admissibility at trial instead of the relevance standard applicable to discovery. In support of that argument, CAPEEM objects to the court's ruling that to be discoverable, the communications CAPEEM sought would have had to have been received by the defendants, participated in by the defendants, or at least known to the defendants. CAPEEM's theory is far from clear. Any communications about the review process that Witzel made public or disclosed to the defendants were provided to CAPEEM. The Massachusetts district court ruled that in the absence of some knowledge by the defendants of Witzel's disputed communications, they were not relevant to CAPEEM's claims and were not discoverable. Relevance is the proper discovery standard. In contrast, the Massachusetts district court did not conclude that the disputed communications were relevant and then go on to deny discovery because the communications were, for example, inadmissible hearsay. The court properly focused on relevance of the disputed communications to CAPEEM's claims against the defendants in the underlying case.