Gallegos et al v. Safeco Insurance Company of America

Filing 62

MINUTE ORDER denying 42 Plaintiffs' Motion to Compel Discovery Re: Interrogatory 3, as set forth in the Order, by Magistrate Judge Michael J. Watanabe on 1/13/2015. (emill)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO
Civil Action No. 14-cv-01114-WJM-MJW
EUGENE GALLEGOS and
DIANE GALLEGOS,
Plaintiff(s),
v.
SAFECO INSURANCE COMPANY OF AMERICA,
Defendant(s).

MINUTE ORDER
Entered by Magistrate Judge Michael J. Watanabe
It is hereby ORDERED that Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel Discovery Re:
Interrogatory 3 (docket no. 42) is DENIED for the following reasons. The information
sought in Interrogatory 3 concerns past claims unrelated to this case based upon
Defendant Safeco’s voluntary payment of $9,782.00 to Plaintiffs during depositions
taken on October 9, 2014. Defendant Safeco has indicated that it paid the $9,782.00 to
Plaintiffs because the costs of this litigation, which continues to mount, are
disproportionately greater than the relatively modest amount of actual damages claimed
by Plaintiffs in this action. This court finds that interrogatory 3 is overly broad, unduly
burdensome, and not reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible
evidence. Moreover, the court finds that the burden and expense of the proposed
discovery sought in Interrogatory 3 upon Defendant Safeco outweighs its likely benefit,
considering the needs of the case, the amount in controversy, the parties’ resources,
the importance of the issues at stake in the action, and the importance of the discovery
in resolving the issues. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(2)(C) and Bouchard v. Whetstone,
2010 WL 1435484, at *3 (D. Colo. Apr. 9, 2010).
Date: January 13, 2015