Hill v. Walmart Inc.
Filing
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ORDER RE: DISCOVERY DISPUTE 36 . Signed by Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley on November 16, 2020. (ahm, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 11/16/2020)
Case 4:19-cv-05436-JST Document 42 Filed 11/16/20 Page 1 of 2
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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BIJON HILL,
Plaintiff,
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Re: Dkt. No. 36
WALMART INC.,
Defendant.
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United States District Court
Northern District of California
ORDER RE: DISCOVERY DISPUTE
v.
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Case No. 19-cv-05436-JST (JSC)
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Plaintiff contends that Defendant employed her on 10 occasions as a model for
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Defendant’s marketing material and did not pay her in the time required under California law to
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pay employees. Defendant contends that Plaintiff was an independent contractor and Plaintiff’s
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talent agency Scout Talent Management, LLC (“Scout”), not Defendant, was required to make
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payments to Plaintiff. Discovery has been referred to the undersigned magistrate judge. Now
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pending before the Court is a discovery dispute joint letter regarding Defendant’s motion to
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compel documents and interrogatory responses from Plaintiff. (Dkt. No. 36.) After carefully
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considering the docket and the parties’ written submission, the Court concludes that oral argument
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is unnecessary, see N.D. Cal. Civ. L.R. 7-1(b), and rules as set forth below.
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1.
Document Requests. Plaintiff shall produce documents reflecting payments from
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Scout to Plaintiff during the relevant time period. Plaintiff does not get to unilaterally decide
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which payments are relevant; Defendant is entitled to verify which payments were for Plaintiff’s
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work for Defendant and when those payments were made.
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Plaintiff represents that she does not have any copies of her representation agreement with
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Scout, whether in electronic form or otherwise. Defendant has not established that any
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representation agreements in Scout’s possession are currently within Scout’s possession, custody
Case 4:19-cv-05436-JST Document 42 Filed 11/16/20 Page 2 of 2
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or control. However, as offered in the joint letter, Plaintiff shall ask Scout to provide her with a
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copy of all representation agreements that Scout had with Plaintiff and then promptly produce
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those to Defendant.
With respect to the tax forms, Plaintiff’s insistence that such records are absolutely
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privileged is wrong. See Lawson v. GrubHub, Inc., No. 15-CV-05128-JSC, 2017 WL 1684964, at
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*1-2 (N.D. Cal. May 3, 2017). Defendant, however, does not address any of the caselaw
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governing production of tax records under California law. Further, there may be ways for
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Defendant to obtain the information it seeks—for example, a stipulation that Scout provided
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Plaintiff with a Form 1099—without actual production of the tax forms. Indeed, Defendant has
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propounded Requests For Admissions that may obviate the need for production of the actual tax
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United States District Court
Northern District of California
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forms. Accordingly, Defendant’s motion to compel tax documents is denied without prejudice.
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2.
Interrogatory Requests. Plaintiff shall respond to Interrogatories 5-7. The
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information is relevant to an issue in the case. Plaintiff put her other sources of income during the
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relevant time frame at issue by bringing this lawsuit. To the extent the responses contain private
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financial information, they can be provided subject to a protective order.
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3.
Requests for Admission. Plaintiff’s refusal to answer Requests for Admissions 4-
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7 is unsupported; she cites no case which provides a privilege to a plaintiff merely admitting that
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she received a Form 1099. Plaintiff shall answer those requests.
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This Order disposes of Docket No. 36.
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IT IS SO ORDERED.
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Dated: November 16, 2020
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J Q
JACQUELINE
JACQUELINE SCOTT CORLEY
CORLEY
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United St t M i t t J d
U it d States Magistrate Judge
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