Depadua v. Central Transport, LLC
- Thomas Hixson
- 3:20-cv-04947
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 3
In Depadua v. Central Transport, Judge Hixson authorized limited early discovery requiring Central Transport to identify Depadua’s supervisor before deciding remand.
Central Transport, LLC must disclose the identity of Oscar, the supervisor identified in Depadua’s complaint. The order also affects Altair Depadua by allowing him to obtain that information before the court decides his motion to remand.
What happened
Altair Depadua sued Central Transport, LLC, alleging violations of California employment and labor laws. He did not know the full name of his alleged supervisor, whose first name was Oscar, and sought that information before the court decided his request to send the case back to state court.
Depadua asked for permission to obtain this information before the parties’ usual discovery process began. Central Transport objected, arguing that the discovery was not authorized and that Depadua could wait. The court found that identifying one supervisor would impose virtually no burden or prejudice on Central Transport and could help resolve the remand issue sooner.
Judge Hixson granted Depadua’s request for limited pre-hearing discovery and ordered Central Transport to produce Oscar’s identity by September 30, 2020. The order did not decide whether the case should be remanded or whether adding Oscar was proper.
The detailed version
- Depadua v. Central Transport, LLC · No. 3:20-cv-04947
- Thomas Hixson
- Sept. 25, 2020
Background
Altair Depadua filed an amended complaint in California state court alleging, among other things, violations of California employment and labor law. The complaint named Central Transport, LLC, and 20 unnamed defendants. It described conduct by a person Depadua identified as his direct supervisor, but Depadua knew only that the supervisor’s first name was Oscar. Depadua asserted that Oscar was a California resident.
Central Transport removed the case to federal court based on diversity jurisdiction and an amount in controversy exceeding $75,000. Depadua then filed a motion asking the court to remand the case to state court and award attorney fees, arguing that the claims against Oscar defeated diversity jurisdiction. Before that motion was decided, Depadua filed an ex parte application—an application made without the ordinary motion schedule—for permission to obtain limited discovery about Oscar’s identity.
Court’s Analysis
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(d)(1) generally prevents a party from seeking discovery before the parties hold their required discovery-planning conference, unless the rules, the parties’ agreement, or a court order allows earlier discovery. The court concluded that it could authorize early discovery for the parties’ and witnesses’ convenience and in the interests of justice.
The court found good cause for the request. The discovery was very limited: Central Transport needed to provide only the identity of one supervisor. The court found that producing the information would impose virtually no burden and would not prejudice Central Transport because the identity would eventually be disclosed through ordinary discovery. Learning the identity sooner could also help determine whether remand was appropriate and avoid unnecessary litigation costs and use of judicial resources.
The court noted that any argument that adding Oscar was improper could be raised when Depadua sought to amend the complaint. Any argument that Oscar was added solely to defeat federal jurisdiction could be made in opposition to the motion to remand.
Disposition
The court granted the request for limited pre-hearing discovery. It ordered Central Transport to produce the identity of Oscar, identified as Depadua’s supervisor, by September 30, 2020. The opinion did not decide the pending motion to remand, the request for attorney fees, or the propriety of adding Oscar as a defendant.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.