Laine v. Wells Fargo Bank N.A

Filing 76

ORDER RE: DISCOVERY 69 (Illston, Susan) (Filed on 9/4/2014)

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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United States District Court
For the Northern District of California

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No. C 13-04109 SI

DEBRA L. LAINE,

ORDER RE: DISCOVERY

Plaintiff,
v.
WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A.,

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Defendant.

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The parties have submitted a discovery dispute to the Court. Docket Nos. 69-70.1 Plaintiff

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Debra Laine owns real property located at 5450 Betty Circle, Livermore, California (“Betty Circle”).

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Defendant Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. is the mortgage lender for plaintiff’s Betty Circle property.

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Plaintiff’s Second Amended Complaint (“SAC”) alleges three causes of action: (1) violation of the Real

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Estate Settlement Procedures Act (“RESPA”), 12 U.S.C. § 2605; (2) negligence and negligent infliction

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of emotional distress; and (3) violation of California Business and Professions Code § 17200. SAC,

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¶¶ 23-56. All of plaintiff’s claims are predicated on defendant’s alleged violation of RESPA. Id.

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Plaintiff requests that the Court compel defendant to produce documents pursuant to plaintiff’s

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First Set of Requests for Production of Documents, numbers 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 14 and 15. Defendant

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The parties did not comply with this Court’s Standing Order regarding the procedure for
submitting a discovery dispute. Under paragraph 3 of this Court’s Standing Order, parties are required
to meet and confer in person regarding all discovery disputes, and if they are unable to resolve their
disputes, the parties “shall prepare a concise joint statement of 5 pages or less, stating the nature and
status of their dispute.” Standing Order ¶ 3. The parties are directed to review and comply with the
Standing Order with regard to any further discovery disputes.

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objects that, inter alia: (1) plaintiff’s request number 10 seeks irrelevant information; (2) plaintiff’s

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other requests seek documents containing the confidential financial information of a third party,

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plaintiff’s ex-husband Keith Laine, with whom plaintiff purchased the house; and (3) plaintiff has

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indicated an intent to provide Mr. Laine’s financial information to a third party, Dennly Becker. Docket

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No. 70 at 2. Plaintiff asserts, inter alia, that: (1) all documents sought are relevant and not confidential;

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(2) defendant is precluded from seeking a protective order because defendant should have sought one

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before defendant’s discovery responses were due; and (3) defendant’s concern that plaintiff will share

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confidential financial information with Mr. Becker is “unfounded and unsupportable” and, therefore,

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does not necessitate a protective order. Pl.’s Reply to Wells Fargo’s Resp. (“Pl.’s Reply”), at 3.

United States District Court
For the Northern District of California

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Request number 10 seeks defendant’s loan modification criteria. Defendant contends that it

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should not have to produce the requested documents because the Court has dismissed all of plaintiff’s

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claims relating to plaintiff’s applications for a loan modification, and the only claim remaining is for

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an alleged RESPA violation. Plaintiff’s RESPA claim is based on defendant’s alleged failure to

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adequately respond to her Qualified Written Request (“QWR”), in which plaintiff did not seek

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defendant’s loan modification criteria but instead sought the following documents: (1) plaintiff’s loan

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payment history; (2) a written itemization of the amount needed to bring plaintiff’s loan out of default;

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and (3) a written itemization of plaintiff’s remaining unpaid principal loan amount. SAC at 7-11.

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Defendant contends that request number 10 seeks irrelevant information because its loan modification

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criteria are not probative of its alleged failure to adequately respond to the QWR. Plaintiff argues that

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the loan modification documents are relevant because “[h]ad Wells Fargo not denied her modification,

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Plaintiff would not have had to send Wells Fargo a QWR, would not have had to arrange for a loan from

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a private investor, and would not have had to file this action.” Pl.’s Reply, at 3.

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Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26 provides that a party may obtain discovery “regarding any

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nonprivileged matter that is relevant to any party’s claim or defense.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1).

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“Relevant information need not be admissible at the trial if the discovery appears reasonably calculated

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to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1). “Relevancy, for the

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purposes of discovery, is defined broadly, although it is not without ultimate and necessary boundaries.”

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Gonzales v. Google, Inc., 234 F.R.D. 674, 679-80 (N.D. Cal. 2006). “The party seeking to compel
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discovery has the burden of establishing that its request satisfies the relevancy requirements of Rule

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26(b)(1).” Louisiana Pac. Corp. v. Money Mkt. 1 Institutional Inv. Dealer, 285 F.R.D. 481, 485 (N.D.

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Cal. 2012)

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“[T]he party opposing discovery has the burden of showing that discovery should not be allowed, and

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also has the burden of clarifying, explaining and supporting its objections with competent evidence.”

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Id.
The Court finds that the information plaintiff requests in her document request number 10 is not

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relevant to this action because it relates to the processing of her loan modification requests. Plaintiff’s

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SAC consists solely of claims predicated on defendant’s alleged RESPA violation. In order to prove

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United States District Court
For the Northern District of California

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her RESPA claim, plaintiff must establish, inter alia, a causal connection between defendant’s alleged

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failure to provide the documents requested in her QWR and her alleged $50,000 loss. See Tamburri v.

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Suntrust Mortg. Inc., 875 F.Supp 2d 1009, 1015 (N.D. Cal. 2012); Guidi v. Paul Fin., LLC, 13-cv-

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01919-LHK, 2014 WL 60253, at *4 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 7, 2014). The Court finds that the connection

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between the loan modification process and the alleged RESPA violation is too attenuated, and thus that

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request number 10 seeks information that is not “relevant to any party’s claim or defense.” Fed. R. Civ.

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P. 26(b)(1).

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Defendant has agreed to produce documents responsive to requests 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 14, and 15

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subject to a protective order. Citing Pioche Mines Consol., Inc. v. Dolman, 333 F.2d 257 (9th Cir.

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1964), plaintiff argues that defendant should have sought a protective order before the time to respond

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to plaintiff’s document requests, and thus that defendant has waived its right to seek a protective order.

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However, Pioche is inapposite because that case addressed a party’s failure to appear at a deposition.

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The procedural rules for objecting to depositions are different from the procedural rules for objecting

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to document requests, with the former being governed by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (“Rule”) 30

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and the latter by Rule 34.

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Under Rule 34(b), the responding party has 30 days from the date of service to provide written

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responses, including objections, to any requests for production of documents. Fed. R. Civ. P. 34(b).

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Relatedly, under Rule 37, the parties are to meet and confer and attempt to resolve any discovery

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disputes before seeking the Court’s assistance. Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(a)(1). Here, plaintiff does not contend
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that defendant’s objections are untimely under Rule 34(b), and defendant’s request that the parties enter

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into a protective order is consistent with the meet and confer requirements of Rule 37. As such, the

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Court finds that defendant has appropriately requested that the parties attempt to enter into a stipulated

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protective order prior to defendant’s production of responsive documents containing the confidential

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information of a third party.

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Plaintiff also argues that a protective order is unnecessary because she has not requested any of

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her ex-husband’s confidential financial information. Finally, plaintiff asserts that the information she

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has requested is not relevant to either of Mr. Becker’s two cases currently pending against Wells Fargo,

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and thus that defendant’s concerns about her sharing information with Mr. Becker are unfounded.

United States District Court
For the Northern District of California

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The Court disagrees and finds that plaintiff’s document requests appear to request documents

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that could contain the confidential financial information of her ex-husband, Keith Laine. For example,

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plaintiff’s request number 8 seeks information regarding defendant’s calculation of the principal amount

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owed on the loan, which would likely include calculations done using Mr. Laine’s financial information

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as the initial loan was made to both plaintiff and Mr. Laine. See Pl.’s Req. No. 8. Similarly, plaintiff’s

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request number 1 seeks all documents relating to plaintiff’s loan. Pl.’s Req. No. 1. Request number 1

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would likely include Mr. Laine’s financial information because, inter alia, plaintiff appears to have

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sought to modify the loan as late as November 12, 2012, which was before the alleged Interspousal

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Transfer Deed was recorded in March of 2013, and thus during the time period in which the loan was

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still both plaintiff and Mr. Laine’s responsibility. See FAC at 5. Thus, the Court finds that plaintiff’s

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request are likely to include Mr. Laine’s confidential financial information. As such, defendant’s

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request that the parties enter into a protective order is reasonable. Further, plaintiff’s argument that Mr.

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Becker has nothing to gain from reviewing defendant’s production does not change the fact that Mr.

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Becker is not entitled to review Mr. Laine’s financial information.

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Accordingly, the Court directs that the parties meet and confer regarding the terms of a

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protective order. The parties should consider using the “Stipulated Protective Order for Standard

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Litigation,” located on the Northern District of California’s website.2 This order resolves Docket No.

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69.

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IT IS SO ORDERED.

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Dated: September 4, 2014

SUSAN ILLSTON
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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United States District Court
For the Northern District of California

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This model protective order can be found at http://www.cand.uscourts.gov/stipprotectorder
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