Opinion ID: 2161024
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: colorado facility

Text: Next, National Farms and O.N. argue that the court erred in allowing the Kopeckys' witness to inspect and later to testify about the Colorado swine-raising facility of a wholly-owned subsidiary of National Farms. Both parties assert that entry upon land for inspection is controlled by Neb.Ct.R. of Discovery 34 (rev. 1992). However, rule 34, which follows Fed.R.Civ.P. 34, is limited in scope. It applies only to parties to the action. See Trans Pacific Ins. Co. v. Trans-Pacific Ins. Co., 136 F.R.D. 385 (E.D.Pa. 1991). See, also, Miner v. Punch, 838 F.2d 1407, 1409 (5th Cir.1988) (since the provisions of federal rule 34 apply only to the parties to the pending litigation, the court declined to order the Ohio superintendent of insurance, who was not a party, to produce records of an insurance company in liquidation); Hatch v. Reliance Ins. Co., 758 F.2d 409 (9th Cir.), cert. denied 474 U.S. 1021, 106 S.Ct. 571, 88 L.Ed.2d 555 (1985) (federal rule 34, governing production of documents and things for inspection, copying, or photographing, may not be used to discover matters from a nonparty); Pollitt v. Mobay Chemical Corp., 95 F.R.D. 101, 106 (S.D.Ohio 1982) (it is well settled that Rule 34 provides this Court with no authority to order a non -party to permit entry on land); Huynh v. Werke, 90 F.R.D. 447 (S.D.Ohio 1981) (federal rule 34 expressly applies to discovery among parties only). National Farms' wholly owned subsidiary in Colorado is not a party to this action. Under the federal rules, entry upon the land of a nonparty for inspection is governed by Fed.R.Civ.P. 45, as amended in 1991. There is no Nebraska discovery rule which serves as a counterpart to federal rule 45. However, the advisory committee's notes to rule 45 state: [T]he revised rule authorizes the issuance of a subpoena to compel the inspection of premises in the possession of a non-party. Rule 34 has authorized such inspections of premises in the possession of a party as discovery compelled under Rule 37, but prior practice required an independent proceeding to secure such relief ancillary to the federal proceeding when the premises were not in the possession of a party. Nebraska's rule 34(c) addresses persons, not parties, and states: This rule does not preclude an independent action against a person not a party for production of documents and things and permission to enter upon land. Thus, the trial court should have required the Kopeckys to initiate a discovery action against the wholly owned subsidiary in Colorado. The court erred in ordering the inspection. This error, however, and any error in presenting to the jury the evidence obtained from the inspection, are harmless, since liability is established as a matter of law pursuant to the doctrine of collateral estoppel.