Opinion ID: 1704812
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: List of Similar Lawsuits

Text: The trial court's second order directed National Security to provide [p]laintiff a list of all lawsuits filed in the State of Alabama within five years for fraud, deceit, misrepresentation, suppression and/or violations of insurance regulations or statutes naming the county where filed. The discovery of past fraud actions, subject to the five-year limitation, may lead to the discovery of admissible evidence tending to suggest a pattern or practice of intentional wrongful conduct on the part of National Security's agents. As we have stated, some earlier fraud actions need not relate to the specific focus of the fraud [the plaintiff] alleges ... for the discovery regarding earlier actions to be relevant to [the plaintiff's] action. Ex parte Rowland, 669 So.2d at 127. Compare Ex parte Finkbohner, 682 So.2d 409, 413 (Ala.1996) (implying that a plaintiff's request for a list of fraud claims that have not resulted in the filing of actions would be unduly burdensome on the defendant); and Ex parte Union Security, 723 So.2d at 38-39 (consumer complaints filed with the company, even if the complaints do not result in legal actions, can lead to evidence of representations similar to those made to the [plaintiffs] and are thus discoverable). The trial court's order requiring National Security to produce a list of lawsuits is more restrictive than the order to produce consumer complaints and lawsuits upheld in Ex parte Union Security; it was not an abuse of discretion.