Stallworth v. County of Santa Clara et al

Filing 49

ORDER regarding 47 the parties' May 3, 2013 discovery letter brief. Signed by Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler on 5/17/2013. (lblc2, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 5/17/2013)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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Northern District of California

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San Francisco Division
KATHLEEN STALLWORTH,

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For the Northern District of California

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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No. C 11-04841 JSW (LB)

Plaintiff,

ORDER REGARDING THE PARTIES’
MAY 3, 2013 JOINT DISCOVERY
LETTER BRIEF

v.
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ANDREA BROLLINI, et al.,
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[Re: ECF No. 47]
Defendants.
_____________________________________/

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INTRODUCTION
In this action, which was removed from state court, Plaintiff Kathleen Stallworth sued

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defendants Andrea Brollini, Michelle de la Calle, the County of Santa Clara (the “County”), and the

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Santa Clara Personnel Board (collectively, “Defendants”) for retaliation and violation of her federal

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and state civil rights. See Notice of Removal, ECF No. 1 at 1-17. The district court ordered that all

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discovery disputes in this case be referred to the undersigned for resolution. Order of Referral, ECF

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No. 16; Notice of Referral, ECF No. 18. Now, the parties disagree about the adequacy of the

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County’s response to two of Plaintiff's document requests: RFP Nos. 182 and 183. See 5/3/13 Joint

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Letter Brief, ECF No. 47 at 1. Those requests seek patient records. Id. The court held a hearing on

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May 16, 2013 and orders disclosure pursuant to the parties’ protective order.

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STATEMENT

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Ms. Stallworth is a registered nurse. Notice of Removal, ECF No. 1 at 5, ¶ 1. She worked for

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the County for over twenty years in the emergency department of the Valley Medical Center
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(“VMC”). Id. She alleges that in March 2009 she reported to VMC senior management that certain

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members of the medical staff were using an unsafe and unlawful medical practice. Id. at 8, ¶ 14. As

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a result of her report, she alleges that she was retaliated against for roughly eighteen months and

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ultimately was transferred to another unit within the VMC and demoted. See id. at 8-10, ¶¶ 15-21.

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She sued the Defendants in Santa Clara County Superior Court, bringing claims for invasion of

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privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, retaliation under California Labor Code § 1102,

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California Government Code §§ 1278.5, 6310(b) and 12940, violation of her civil rights under

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California Civil Code § 52 and 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and administrative mandamus. See id. at 5-17.

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Defendants removed the action to federal court on the basis of federal question jurisdiction. See id.

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at 1-2.
On May 3, 2013, the parties filed a joint letter describing their discovery dispute about whether

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For the Northern District of California

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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the County should produce a particular patient's medical records. 5/3/2013 Joint Letter, ECF No. 47.

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One of Defendant’s purported reasons for terminating Plaintiff is that patients complained about her.

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One of incidents involved Patient TC, who says that Plaintiff gave her a drug that she told Plaintiff

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she was allergic to. When initially considering the complaint, Defendant Brollini apparently

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reviewed medical records for TC’s visits to the hospital in November 2009, and after doing so,

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believed TC’s complaint was valid. Now, Plaintiff wants to get TC’s other medical records from

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January 1, 2009 to November 27, 2009 (which apparently involve three other visits) and the

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administrative records related to Defendant’s review of her complaint. Id. at 1-2 and 4,

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ANALYSIS

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As always, the court must first determine whether the information sought is relevant. See Fed.

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R. Civ. P. 26(b) (subject to the limitations imposed by Rule 26(b)(2)(C), “[p]arties may obtain

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discovery regarding any nonprivileged matter that is relevant to any party's claim or defense . . . .”).

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Plaintiff argues that the records are discoverable, relate to her claims for retaliation and

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Defendant’s defense to them, are not overbroad, and do not invade TC’s privacy rights because

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Plaintiff need for the information outweighs TC’s privacy rights and in any case there is a protective

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order in place. Id. at 1-2. The theory is that the additional records are relevant to show that TC was

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a drug seeker, the records will show this, Defendant Brollini reviewed the file and believed TC’s
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complaints, that belief could not have been well-founded, and that is relevant to Plaintiff’s claims of

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retaliation by Ms. Brollini. Id.

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Defendant responds that it already produced the medical record for the November 2009 visit and

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the nursing notes for all four visits. Id. at 3-4. The notes were produced because Defendant Brollini

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reviewed those records in investigating Plaintiff's assertions about whether Patient TC reported the

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allergy. Id. There is no evidence that Defendant Brollini reviewed other portions of TC's medical

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records not already produced, Plaintiff never asked about the scope of review during the deposition,

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and so Defendant has produced the records that are at issue in the litigation. Id. at 4. Defendant

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argues that absent information that Defendant Brollini reviewed records, the records are not at issue

Constitution, Article 1, section 1, California's Confidentiality of Medical Information Act, Civil

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For the Northern District of California

in the litigation, and production of them would violate TC’s privacy interests under California

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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Code §§ 56-56.7, and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”),

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Pub. L. No. 104-191, 110 Stat. 1936 (1996) (codified at various sections of Titles 18, 29, and 42 of

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the United States Code). Joint Letter Brief, ECF No. 47 at 4. Defendant also is concerned that

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Plaintiff developed her “TC was a drug-seeker” theory improperly when she by happenstance treated

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her in January 2013. Id. at 4-5.

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The relevant rules allow production pursuant to a protective order. See, e.g., 45 C.F.R. §

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164.512(e)(1)(i), (ii) (under HIPAA, “covered entities” such as care providers may disclose

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protected medical records without patient consent: (1) in response to a court order, provided only the

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information specified in the court order is disclosed; or (2) in response to a subpoena or discovery

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request if the health care provider receives adequate assurance that the individual whose records are

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requested has been given sufficient notice of the request, or if reasonable efforts have been made to

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secure a protective order). The parties already have produced relevant patient records under that

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order. The issue is whether Plaintiff ought to get these additional records.

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At the hearing, the court talked more with the parties about the relevance of the discovery. As to

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Defendant’s argument that Plaintiff never asked about the scope of the review at Ms. Brollini’s

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deposition, Plaintiff’s counsel disputed that and said he asked about it on the day that someone else

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defended the deposition. Plaintiff’s counsel also disputed the concern that Ms. Stallworth developed
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the theory only in January 2013 and asserted that he developed the theory based on his investigation.

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In the end, the relevance is pretty attenuated, but it has some possible bearing (maybe) on the

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scope of Ms. Brollini’s review and whether her decisions based on her review of all the patient

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complaints are suspect. That in turn is relevant to retaliation. There is no burden argument, and the

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records pertain only to 2009 and apparently involve only three visits. The privacy issue is a fair one,

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but TC’s November 2009 visit and nursing notes for the full year already have been produced.

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Based on all of this, with the close call and no burden, the court orders disclosure pursuant to the

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protective order.

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CONCLUSION

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Plaintiff’s request is granted, and the court orders disclosure pursuant to the protective order.
This disposes of ECF No. 47.

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For the Northern District of California

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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IT IS SO ORDERED.

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Dated: May 17, 2013

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_______________________________
LAUREL BEELER
United States Magistrate Judge

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C 11-04841 JSW (LB)
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