Boyd, Tammy v. Meriter Health Services Employee Retirement Plan et al

Filing 112

ORDER construing 111 as motion to strike plaintiff's self-imposed waiver condition on defendants' review of proposed class representatives' interrogatory answers; motion is granted. Plaintiff sanctioned $100, to be paid to the clerk of court. Signed by District Judge William M. Conley on 9/20/11. (krj)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN

TAMMY J. BOYD, on behalf of herself
and all similarly situated,

Plaintiff,

ORDER

v.
10-cv-426-wmc
MERITER HEALTH SERVICES
EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT PLAN and
MERITER HEALTH SERVICES, INC.,
Defendants.
The court is in receipt of defendants Meriter Health Services Employee
Retirement Plan and Meriter Health Services, Inc.’s letter dated today, September 20,
2011. (Dkt. #111.) The court treats defendants’ letter as a motion to strike plaintiff’s
self-imposed

waiver

condition

on

representatives’ interrogatory answers.

defendants’

review

of

the

proposed

class

The court made clear in the hearing on

September 2, 2011, and its subsequently filed order (dkt. #102) that plaintiff’s counsel
must fully cooperate in expedited discovery efforts to ameliorate prejudice to defendants
caused by plaintiff’s failure to timely disclose a list of proposed class representatives.
While plaintiff may have had some (technical) basis for objecting to defendants’
propounding party interrogatories to proposed class representatives under ordinary
circumstances, these are not ordinary circumstances, largely due to plaintiff’s own delays.
Moreover, under NO circumstances, can the court conceive it appropriate for one side in
a discovery dispute to impose its own, unique discovery conditions having no basis in the

Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, rather than interpose proper objections and/or seek
relief from this court. Since plaintiff did neither, and the interrogatories (though better
directed to plaintiff) stream-line discovery efforts and will help minimize the amount of
time spent in depositions of the proposed, additional class representatives, defendants’
motion to strike (dkt. #111) is GRANTED, and plaintiff is sanctioned $100 to be paid to
the clerk of the court for the Western District of Wisconsin.
Entered this 20th day of September, 2011.
BY THE COURT:
/s/
________________________________________
WILLIAM M. CONLEY
District Judge

2