Opinion ID: 2834020
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Mandamus and Appeal

Text: Of course, we generally do not consider interlocutory complaints about trial settings. [24] But we generally do not review orders refusing to compel discovery either. Yet we did so in Able Supply for three reasons. First, we have granted mandamus when a discovery order imposes a burden on one party far out of proportion to any benefit to the other. [25] Here, as in Able Supply , the burden of making 30 defendants prepare in the dark for 1,900 claims is far out of proportion to the benefit of giving the plaintiffs more time (after five years) to decide who or what injured them. Filing thousands of claims like those here requires only a reasonable inquiry and belief that they are not groundless; [26] recovering on them requires considerably more. In the meantime, thousands of hours and millions of dollars may be needlessly wasted if the claims can never be proved. Mandamus is appropriate in such cases to avoid this “monumental waste of judicial resources.” [27] Second, we have granted mandamus when a denial of discovery goes to the heart of a party’s case. [28] There are many cases in which it is perfectly reasonable to conduct discovery up until 30 days before trial. [29] But in suits like this one, denying discovery until then goes to the very heart of this case, as well as what our justice system is supposed to be about. [30] Third, we have granted mandamus when a discovery order severely compromises a party’s ability to present any case at all at trial. [31] No trial was set in Able Supply , but the plaintiffs’ intention to withhold responses until shortly before then meant the defendants could not prepare a viable defense. Late disclosure may not compromise a defendant when the complaint is minor or causation obvious; but the connection between chemical fumes and cancer is quite different, as is a bellwether trial that may affect thousands of others. We cannot ignore the trial court’s order here without ignoring Able Supply . If mandamus was proper there, it must be here too.