Chew v. American Greetings Corporation

Filing 76

ORDER granting in part 66 Motion to Compel subject to parameters set forth within this Order. Site inspection is to occur no later than September 21, 2012, and the deadline for expert disclosures is extended to October 5, 2012.Signed by Chief Judge Brian S. Miller on 09/14/2012. (jak)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS
JONESBORO DIVISION
EUGENE CHEW, JR.
v.

PLAINTIFF

CASE NO. 3:10CV00199 BSM (Lead Case)

AMERICAN GREETINGS CORPORATION

DEFENDANT

DAVID MARK DUNCAN and
NANCY DUNCAN

PLAINTIFFS

v.

CASE NO. 3:10CV00214 BSM (Member Case)

AMERICAN GREETINGS CORPORATION

DEFENDANT

DANIEL CHASE HOSKINS and
WHITNEY DALE HOSKINS

PLAINTIFFS

v.

CASE NO. 3:10CV00124 BSM (Member Case)

AMERICAN GREETINGS CORPORATION

DEFENDANT

ORDER
The motion to compel site inspection [Doc. No. 66] filed by plaintiffs David and
Nancy Duncan is granted in part, subject to the parameters set forth herein.
This case concerns an electrical incident that occurred at the plant of defendant
American Greetings Corporation (“American Greetings”) on September 23, 2009.
Defendant’s Brief in Support of Response to Plaintiff’s Motion to Compel Site Inspection

(“Def’s Brief in Supp. of Resp.”) [Doc. No. 71], pgs. 2-3. Prior to the incident, Ronnie
Housman, American Greetings’ maintenance supervisor, was made aware of a hanging
power line outside the plant facility that appeared disconnected from the corresponding
transformer. Duncans’ Reply to Defendant’s Response to Motion to Compel (“Duncans’
Reply”) [Doc. No. 73], Attached Deposition of Ronnie Housman, p. 30, ln. 22 through p.31,
ln 13. Housman checked the readings of electrical meters located at certain substations inside
the facility to see if the hanging power line was causing interference with the downstream
electrical current. Id. The plaintiffs, David Duncan, Eugene Chew, Jr., and Daniel Hoskins,
were members of an electric utility crew called by American Greetings to repair the
transformer and disconnected power line. Def’s Brief in Supp. Of Resp., pg 2. While
checking the voltage of the transformer, an arc flash occurred which resulted in injury to all
three plaintiffs. Id. at pg. 3.
At dispute is whether the Duncans’ expert, an electrical engineer, should be allowed
access to certain areas inside American Greetings’ facility. The Duncans claim their expert
needs such access in order to inspect the electrical distribution system that runs downstream
from the transformer that arc flashed. More specifically, the Duncans state that their expert
needs access to the meters and corresponding substations located inside the plant that were
checked by American Greetings’ supervisor Ronnie Housman on the day of the arc flash. In
response, American Greetings contends the downstream electrical system is irrelevant to the
transformer that arc flashed. It further objects to the scope of the inspection as failing to
describe “with reasonable particularity” each item or category of items to be inspected as
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required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34(b).
Having considered these arguments, there appears to be little relevance, if any, of the
entire downstream interior electrical system, in general, to the transformer that arc flashed
outside the facility. On the other hand, the conditions of the specific meters and
corresponding substations that were checked by Housman on the day of the accident do
appear to bear sufficient relevance so as to be discoverable under Rule 26(b). See Fed. R.
Civ. P. 26(b) (stating that information sought in discovery is relevant and discoverable so
long as it is “reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence”).
Therefore, the Duncans’ motion to compel is granted in part, with the scope of the site
inspection subject to the following parameters: The area of inspection must be limited to (a)
the area on the exterior of American Greetings’ facility that is near and around the
transformer involved in the arc flash; (b) the meters and corresponding substations inside the
facility that were checked by Ronnie Housman; and (c) the section of the downstream
electrical distribution system that runs from the aforementioned transformer to the
aforementioned meters and substations. The site inspection is to occur no later than
September 21, 2012, and the deadline for expert disclosures is extended to October 5, 2012.
IT IS SO ORDERED this 14th day of September 2012.
________________________________
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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