McArdle v. AT&T Mobility LLC et al
Filing
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DISCOVERY ORDER re 218 Letter filed by Steven McArdle. Signed by Judge Maria-Elena James on 3/21/2013. (cdnS, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 3/21/2013)
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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Northern District of California
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STEVEN MCARDLE, an individual, on
behalf of himself, the general public and those
similarly situated,
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For the Northern District of California
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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ORDER RE: DISCOVERY DISPUTE
(DKT. NO. 218)
Plaintiff,
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No. C 09-1117 CW (MEJ)
vs.
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AT&T MOBILITY LLC; NEW CINGULAR
WIRELESS PCS LLC; NEW CINGULAR
WIRELESS SERVICES, INC., and Does 1-50
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Defendants.
_____________________________________/
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INTRODUCTION
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Before the Court is the joint discovery dispute letter (“Joint Letter”) filed by Plaintiff, Steven
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McArdle (“Plaintiff”) and Defendants, AT&T Mobility LLC, New Cingular Wireless PCS LLC, and
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New Cingular Wireless Services, Inc. (collectively, “Defendants”) on February 25, 2013. Dkt. No.
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218. After consideration of the parties’ papers, relevant legal authority, and good cause appearing,
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the Court ORDERS as follows.
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BACKGROUND
On September 14, 2009, the Honorable Claudia Wilken, the presiding judge in this matter,
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denied Defendants’ motion to compel arbitration of Plaintiff’s claims. Dkt. No. 74. Plaintiff
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subsequently filed a Second Amended Complaint, and Defendants appealed Judge Wilken’s Order.
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Dkt. No. 78. On August 31, 2012, in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in AT&T Mobility LLC
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v. Concepcion, -- U.S. --, 131 S.Ct. 1740 (2011), the Ninth Circuit issued a memorandum decision,
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remanding for this Court to consider “McArdle’s arguments based on generally applicable contract
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defenses.” Dk. No. 204 at 2.
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Thereafter, Judge Wilken granted Plaintiff leave “to conduct limited discovery regarding
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matters relevant to generally applicable contract defenses” in anticipation of a renewed arbitration
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motion by Defendants. Order, Dkt. No. 211, at 2. Plaintiff served Defendants with 34 requests for
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production of documents (“RFP”) and two interrogatories, containing eight subparts, seeking broad
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discovery into Defendants’ arbitration program from 2002 to the present. Defendants objected to the
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discovery on the grounds that it exceeded the limited scope contemplated by Judge Wilken’s order.
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Jt. Ltr., Dkt. 218, at 3.
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Pursuant to the Court’s Discovery Order, the parties submitted their dispute to Magistrate
USA Inc., 836 F.Supp.2d 994 1006-07 (N.D.Cal. 2011), this Court ruled that Defendants “need not
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respond to Plaintiff’s requests that relate to other agreements, disputes, arbitrations, and lawsuits
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For the Northern District of California
Judge James. Order, Dkt. No. 212. On December 21, 2012, in accordance with Meyer v. T-Mobile
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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relating to other customers.” Order, Dkt. No 215 at 1. The Court instructed the parties to meet and
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confer about the scope of discovery in light of its ruling and the prior order permitting only “limited
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discovery.” Jt. Ltr., Dkt. 218 at 1.
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In response, Plaintiff limited the requests to seek information only from the wireless
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provider, AT&T Mobility, LLC (“ATTM”). Plaintiff also “narrowed” his discovery requests to
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demand every arbitration and pre-arbitration notice of dispute involving an ATTM customer since
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2002, along with all filings by ATTM in any such arbitration and any petition by ATTM to confirm
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or vacate an arbitral award. Jt. Ltr., Dkt. 218 at 2; RFP Nos. 42-44, 46; Interrog. 1. Plaintiff
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additionally demanded a broad class of documents relating to “any weakness” or the “fairness” or
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“unfairness” of the “arbitral process” of the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) and the
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AAA’s unrelated moratorium on debt-collection arbitrations by businesses against consumers. Id.;
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RFP Nos. 63-65.
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Plaintiff now seeks an order compelling Defendants to provide the above discovery on the
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issue of whether the arbitration clause in Plaintiff’s wireless service contract is unconscionable
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under California law. Plaintiff asserts that this information is relevant to his claim that his own
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arbitration agreement is “substantively unconscionable and illusory.” Jt. Ltr., Dkt. No. 218, at 1.
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Plaintiff asserts that these requests comply with the December 20, 2012 Discovery Order because
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the requests do not seek documents about individual customers’ arbitration proceedings. Id. at 1, fn.
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DISCUSSION
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The Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) calls for “an expeditious summary hearing on [motions
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to compel arbitration], with only restricted inquiry into factual issues.” Moses H. Cone Mem’l Hosp.
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v. Mercury Constr. Corp. 460 U.S. 1, 22-23 (1983). However, limited pre-arbitration discovery may
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be permitted into “issues relating to the making and performance of the agreement to arbitrate”
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where “‘the making of the arbitration agreement or the failure, neglect, or refusal to perform the
§ 4). Accordingly, “District courts in the Ninth Circuit and the Ninth Circuit itself have allowed a
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For the Northern District of California
same be in issue.’” Simula, Inc. v. Autoliv, Inc., 175 F.3d 716, 726 (9th Cir. 1999) (quoting 9 U.S.C.
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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party opposing a motion to compel arbitration to conduct discovery relevant to the issue of
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unconscionability. Meyer, 836 F.Supp.2d at 1006-07.
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Discovery that does not relate to the validity of the plaintiff’s own arbitration agreement is
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irrelevant to the unconscionability inquiry, because it does not assist the court in determining
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whether the agreement at issue is unconscionable. Hodson v. DirectTV, LLC, 2012 WL 5464615, at
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*8 (N.D. Cal. 2012) (denying arbitration-related discovery focusing on other customers because the
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only relevant document is the actual arbitration agreement alleged to be unconscionable); Meyer,
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836 F.Supp.2d at 1007 (disallowing discovery where the requests focused not on the plaintiff’s
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arbitration agreement, but instead focused on all agreements, disputes, arbitrations and lawsuits
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relating to T–Mobile customers).
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Here, Plaintiff seeks pre-arbitration discovery requesting “every arbitration and pre-
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arbitration notice of dispute involving an ATTM customer since 2002, along with filings by ATTM
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in any such arbitration and any petition by ATTM to confirm or vacate an arbitral award.” RFP
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Nos. 42-44, 46, and Interrog. No. 1. These requests are not proper because they pertain to
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agreements, disputes, arbitrations and lawsuits relating to ATTM customers other than Plaintiff.
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Meyer, 836 F.Supp.2d at 1007. This Court has already disallowed discovery requests focused on
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other ATTM customers. Order, Dkt. 215. Even if Plaintiff did not disregard the Court’s December
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20, 2012 Order limiting discovery to Plaintiff’s own agreement, these discovery requests would not
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provide any new information necessary for the Court to determine the issue of unconscionability
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because the only relevant document is the actual arbitration agreement alleged to be unconscionable.
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Hodson 2012 WL 5464615, at *8.
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Plaintiff is also not entitled to the discovery requested in RFP Nos. 63-65, which seeks
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documents relating to “weakness” or the “fairness” or “unfairness” of the “arbitral process” of the
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AAA and the AAA’s moratorium on debt-collection arbitrations by businesses against consumers
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and to and “weakness” or the “fairness” or “unfairness” of the AAA’s arbitration process. RFP 64-
meaning of the words “weakness” or “fairness” or “unfairness” as they relate to any of AAA's
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For the Northern District of California
65. These requests are impermissibly vague to the extent they require ATTM to interpret the
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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procedures or administration in the past decade. Moreover, the requests are based solely on
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suspicion of bias in the arbitration process. In order to gain such discovery, the party opposing
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arbitration must “show[]” that the “arbitration rules” themselves are “inadequate to guard against
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potential bias.” Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp. 500 U.S. 20, 30 (1991). This Plaintiff has
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not done.
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CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, the Court DENIES Plaintiff’s motion to compel responses to RFP
Nos. 42-44, 46, 63-65, and Interrogatory No. 1.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
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Dated: March 21, 2013
_______________________________
Maria-Elena James
United States Magistrate Judge
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