Opinion ID: 203374
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Disputed Discovery

Text: The Massachusetts district court ruled that the disputed discovery, communications between Witzel and other non-parties that the defendants did not know of or learn about, was not discoverable because it is not relevant to CAPEEM's claims. CAPEEM contends that the Massachusetts district court applied an erroneously narrow relevance standard, conflated relevance with admissibility, and improperly foreclosed discovery of circumstantial evidence.
Relying on Klonoski v. Mahlab, 156 F.3d 255, 267 (1st Cir.1998), CAPEEM argues that the Massachusetts district court applied an overly narrow relevance standard. In doing so, however, CAPEEM ignores the intervening change in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(1). In 2000, Rule 26(b)(1) was amended to distinguish between discovery regarding matters that are relevant to a party's claim or defense and discovery of a broader scope encompassing any matter relevant to the subject matter involved in the action. Fed.R.Civ.P. 26, Advisory Committee Notes, 2000 Amendment. The purpose of the change was to involve the court more actively in regulating the breadth of sweeping or contentious discovery. Id. Therefore, when an objection arises as to the relevance of discovery, the court would become involved to determine whether the discovery is relevant to the claims or defenses and, if not, whether good cause exists for authorizing it, so long as it is relevant to the subject matter of the action. Id. ; see also In re Sealed Case (Med.Records), 381 F.3d 1205, 1215 n. 11 (D.C.Cir.2004). As amended, Rule 26(b)(1) allows discovery of any nonprivileged matter that is relevant to any party's claim or defense. [5] A party seeking broader discovery of any matter relevant to the subject matter involved in the action, is required to show good cause to support the request. Fed. R.Civ.P. 26(b)(1). CAPEEM did not address the good cause requirement to support its discovery request, and good cause is not apparent on the record. Therefore, consideration of the discovery dispute in this case is limited to those matters that are relevant to a party's claim or defense. CAPEEM asserts that the disputed communications are relevant to its equal protection claim against the defendants in the underlying case in which the defendants moved to dismiss CAPEEM's equal protection claim, asserting that CAPEEM did not allege facts to support a claim of unequal treatment. The California district court denied the defendants' motion, stating: CAPEEM specifically alleges defendants applied a less restrictive standard to Muslim, Christian and Jewish groups involved in the review process. For example, [CAPEEM] alleges that only Hindu groups were subjected to, inter alia, repeated scrutiny of proposed edits; secretive processes in making final decisions; and, hostile academic advisors. Because the California district court did not address the issue of the defendants' knowledge or intent as an element of the equal protection claim, CAPEEM asserts that the Massachusetts district court erred in linking relevance to the defendants' intent. The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees that those who are similarly situated will be treated alike. City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Ctr., Inc., 473 U.S. 432, 439, 105 S.Ct. 3249, 87 L.Ed.2d 313 (1985). To succeed on a claim of discriminatory treatment, a plaintiff must show that the defendant acted with discriminatory intent or purpose. Washington v. Davis, 426 U.S. 229, 239-40, 96 S.Ct. 2040, 48 L.Ed.2d 597 (1976). That is, the plaintiff must establish that the defendant intentionally treated the plaintiff differently from others who were similarly situated. Village of Willowbrook v. Olech, 528 U.S. 562, 564, 120 S.Ct. 1073, 145 L.Ed.2d 1060 (2000). A discriminatory intent or purpose means that the defendants selected or reaffirmed a particular course of action at least in part because of, not merely in spite of, its adverse effects upon an identifiable group. Wayte v. United States, 470 U.S. 598, 610, 105 S.Ct. 1524, 84 L.Ed.2d 547 (1985) (internal quotation marks omitted). Therefore, the Massachusetts district court applied the correct legal standard. CAPEEM also contends that Witzel's communications with non-parties, who were participating in the textbook revision process, could provide evidence that Witzel influenced the edits suggested by others and that Witzel had an effect on the final editing decisions. As to Witzel's communications with non-parties who were not participating in the review process, CAPEEM argues that the evidence could show that Witzel had unprecedented access to the revision process, that Witzel and others coordinated their efforts for a particular outcome, that Witzel argued against groups he opposed, and that the defendants did not enforce their rules against Witzel. Neither Witzel nor the people with whom he was communicating are parties in the underlying action. Assuming that the disputed communications would provide evidence of Witzel's bias and that he influenced the review process in ways that other advisers could not, the communications would not show what the defendants intended in taking the actions that they did. The defendants could not discriminate against CAPEEM based on activities or communications that were unknown to them. [6] It appears that the parties do not dispute that the restrictions imposed on Bajpai, who was retained as a Content Review Panel Expert, were not imposed on Witzel. The Massachusetts district court correctly stated that evidence about the defendants' restrictions or lack of restrictions on Witzel and any other alleged procedural irregularity by the defendants in the underlying case was principally discoverable from the defendants themselves. To the extent Witzel's communications with others would show that he was not constrained by the restrictions imposed on Bajpai, such evidence would be merely cumulative of an undisputed fact. CAPEEM also argues that Witzel's communications with other participants in the review process might shed light on the effect of his unrestricted activities on the outcome of the textbook review process. The Massachusetts district court ruled, however, that CAPEEM lacked foundation to support discovery under that theory, which it could develop through discovery from the defendants. [7] The speculative and attenuated connection CAPEEM suggests between the defendants' alleged discrimination in imposing or not imposing restrictions on advisers and the final textbook revisions does not provide a basis to compel the discovery CAPEEM seeks here. CAPEEM has not shown that the Massachusetts district court was plainly wrong in denying its motion to compel based on the lack of relevance of the disputed communications.
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.
In similarly terse terms, CAPEEM faults the Massachusetts district court for preventing discovery of circumstantial evidence of the defendants' discrimination. CAPEEM is correct that circumstantial evidence of discrimination may be probative of an equal protection violation. See, e.g., Bennett v. Saint-Gobain Corp., 507 F.3d 23, 30 (1st Cir.2007); Padilla-Garcia v. Rodriguez, 212 F.3d 69, 75 (1st Cir. 2000). CAPEEM offers no developed analysis, however, to show that the discovery it sought was likely to lead to circumstantial evidence of the defendants' discrimination.
CAPEEM's grounds for challenging the Massachusetts district court's decision do not provide a clear showing that the court was plainly wrong. To the extent there could be room for a difference of opinion, the Massachusetts district court properly exercised its discretion to limit the scope of the subpoena to the matters that had been disclosed to the defendants. In addition, as the court concluded, the burden on Witzel, a nonparty to the underlying action, to disclose his private communications with other nonparties outweighs any slight relevance the disputed communications might have. See Heidelberg Ams., Inc. v. Tokyo Kikai Seisakusho, Ltd., 333 F.3d 38, 41-42 (1st Cir.2003). Because we conclude that the Massachusetts district court's decision was not plainly wrong, we do not address Witzel's arguments that the disputed communications are protected by privilege.