Court Opinion

ID: 9669718
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 03:07:15.77968+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:42:42.978682
License: Public Domain

ON REHEARING
PER CURIAM.
Petitioners for the first time on application for rehearing raise the point that the original request filed by the plaintiff for production asked the defendant “to respond within 14 days.”
In brief, on application for rehearing, petitioners claim:
“THERE IS NO ORDER OF THE TRIAL COURT ALLOWING A SHORTER TIME OF 14 DAYS IN THIS CASE. THE MOTION TO COMPEL WAS FILED ON OCTOBER 17, 1974, WHICH EFFECTIVELY PREVENTED THE DEFENDANTS FROM FILING THE WRITTEN RESPONSE CONTEMPLATED BY THIS RULE!”
Stated succinctly, petitioners for the first time argue that Rule 34(b) allows *735a party upon whom a request is served 30 days within which to serve a response, and that the motion to produce which the plaintiff filed in this case requested the defendant to respond within 14 days. We cannot sanction the practice of bringing up new questions for the first time in applications for rehearing. Kirkland v. Kirkland, 281 Ala. 42, 198 So.2d 771 (1967).
We set forth some of the basic facts to show that the Court is of the opinion that this point was not previously raised. Plaintiff filed a request for the production of documents under Rule 34 on October 1, 1974. Plaintiff requested the defendant “to respond within 14 days.” We do not know when counsel for the petitioners informed the plaintiff that her request would not be honored, but we quote from the original petition for mandamus and from the original brief of counsel for the petitioners to show that the request would not be honored.
Paragraph 5 of the original petition for mandamus reads:
“On advice of counsel that the materials requested were not relevant to the lawsuit; that there was an invasion of the privacy of James Cole and his wife, Mrs. James Cole; that plaintiff had never pursued her remedies within the corporation, COLE TOMATO SALES, INC.; and that counsel for plaintiff had refused the assistance of the accountant for COLE TOMATO SALES, INC., and the president; and that it was unreasonable for plaintiff to demand that any documents be brought to a certain place for her convenience, when her inspection of the corporate books and documents at a reasonable time and place at the office of the corporation had never been denied, this plaintiff was informed that the request would not be honored.”
In a brief filed on original submission, counsel stated:
“After mature consideration and deliberation, counsel for petitioners arrived at the conclusion that a resort to a protective order was definitely NOT necessary, for the simple reason that there was absolutely no foundation in the pleading for any such production of instruments or documents, and so informed counsel for plaintiff, with the proviso that plaintiff could exercise her substantive right as a minority stockholder to inspect the books, etc., of Cole Tomato Sales, Inc., at the offices of the corporation at any reasonable time.”
We understood that petitioners’ original argument before submission was that the complaint in this cause failed to state a cause of action; therefore, no discovery was appropriate. Petitioners never claimed in their petition, in brief, or on oral argument that they had 30 days within which to make a written response. Insofar as we are advised, no objection was made in the trial court or in this Court previously that the request for production shortened the time within which the defendant could respond. The record shows that even if we assume that the point was raised generally by petitioners’ original petition in this Court, no written response was filed within the 30 day period. Therefore, the question is moot.
Since the original request for production by plaintiff was made pursuant to Rule 34, we will extend our original opinion to discuss the underlying policy of the rule, and to show further that petitioners should have served a written response to the original request.
Rule 34 is designed to operate insofar as possible without court intervention. In providing that documents shall be sought by request rather than by motion and that a written response must be served setting forth the reasons for any objections, the rule contemplates that in most instances details of production can be worked out among the lawyers without recourse to the court. Moore’s Federal Practice, Vol. 4A, § 34.05[3]. As stated in Wright and Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure, Vol. 8, § 2213, p. 639:
*736“A party served with a request for inspection must serve a written response to that request. Failure to do so, even though the discovery sought may be wholly objectionable, exposes him to the sanctions of Rule 37(d) unless the party served with the request has applied for a protective order.”
The record shows that the petitioners neither served a written response to the request within 30 days nor applied for a protective order.
On March 19, 1975, petitioners’ counsel filed a motion to strike the order and judgment entered on March 13, 1975, because a majority of the Court had not taken part in the decision. The official endorsement on the transcript of the record shows, and the Court judicially knows that a majority of this Court, in conference assembled, did take part in the decision. The motion to strike is overruled and denied.
The original opinion is modified, corrected, and extended and the application for rehearing is overruled and denied.
Original opinion modified, corrected and extended. Application for rehearing overruled and denied.
HEFLIN, C. J., and MERRILL, MADDOX, JONES and SHORES, JJ., concur.