Opinion ID: 2995336
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Motion to Compel Production of

Text: Documents During discovery, Bilow filed a Rule 34 motion to compel production of certain documents, including, among other things: (1) documents relating to the financial status of the firm, including attorney salaries and billing reports and (2) a letter written by Joseph Ament, the head of the Accounting Committee, to members of his synagogue, objecting to women leading religious services. On January 25, 2000, the court denied the motion with regard to these two types of documents, and Bilow now argues that this was an error. We review a decision of a district court denying a motion to compel for abuse of discretion. See Gile v. United Airlines Inc., 95 F.3d 492, 495 (7th Cir. 1996). Although we realize that an employee can be at a disadvantage when it comes to the collection of information, insofar as the relevant data is in the hands of the employer, we nevertheless find no abuse of discretion here. Bilow argued that the documents relating to the firm’s earnings and expenses would have helped her show that its cost justification for its staffing decision in the Brouwer case was pretextual. But the judge did require that the firm produce all records regarding the Brouwer case and the cases that Bilow argued were most analogous to Brouwer. Any other evidence of billing and costs was irrelevant to the firm’s justification for its staffing decision in the Brouwer case. We similarly see no abuse of discretion (indeed, no error) in the court’s refusal to compel production of the Ament letter. Indeed, it is hard to see how the letter is relevant to the issues in this litigation. Ament’s feelings regarding women leading religious services in his synagogue tell one little or nothing about his views on the role of women in the workplace. Furthermore, it is unclear what part Ament played in the staffing and gross-up decisions. Given that Bilow failed to take a single deposition during discovery, it seems disingenuous for her now to complain that the district court did not require the firm to give her access to some marginally (at best) relevant documents.