Opinion ID: 694317
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Mrs. Stagl's Cross Motion for Additional Discovery

Text: 47 Since the District Court concluded that Delta owed Mrs. Stagl no duty of care with respect to the harm that she suffered, it denied her cross-motion for additional discovery. See Stagl, 849 F.Supp. at 185. Because we vacate the court's grant of summary judgment, and hold that Delta's duty of care extended to operating its baggage carousel in a reasonably safe manner, it is appropriate to address Mrs. Stagl's discovery claim. 48 Discovery rulings fall within the discretion of the district court and, as a general matter, we will not disturb them on appeal absent an abuse of that discretion. See Hollander v. American Cyanamid Co., 895 F.2d 80, 84 (2d Cir.1990). During a pre-trial deposition, a Delta representative vaguely admitted that there had been previous carousel-related accidents. Thereafter, Mrs. Stagl sought further information from Delta regarding accidents similar to hers that have occurred in the past at or near the airline's airport baggage carousels. Evidence of such incidents would unquestionably be relevant, if not central, to Mrs. Stagl's case, and we hold that the district court's refusal to compel Delta's compliance with her request constituted an abuse of discretion. See id. (district court's restriction upon discovery that unduly limited plaintiff's ability to establish element of his wrongful discharge case warranted reversal of summary judgment). 49 To begin with, an accident record of this sort would be directly germane to establishing the degree of risk generated by Delta's method of luggage retrieval and hence whether its failure to institute some other means was, in fact, negligent. Cf. Villante v. Dep't of Corrections, 786 F.2d 516, 521 (2d Cir.1986) (reversing summary judgment for defendant on 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 claim because district court failed to order discovery that would have established whether defendant had notice of on-going assaults upon plaintiff). 50 Such information would also be highly relevant to strengthening Mrs. Stagl's proof of causation. A history of prior passenger collisions at Delta's baggage carousels would demonstrate beyond peradventure that the conduct of the unidentified man was a foreseeable consequence of Delta's alleged negligence and, thus, that his behavior did not sever the link between Delta's actions and Mrs. Stagl's injury. 51 Accordingly, we reverse the district court's denial of Mrs. Stagl's cross-motion to compel additional discovery.