Breedlove v. Consolidated Vision Group, Inc.

Background

Sheree Renee Breedlove filed an employment discrimination lawsuit in state court in March 2020, and the defendants removed it to federal court on April 10, 2020. National Vision, Inc. filed a second motion seeking an order requiring Breedlove to provide discovery and seeking more time to complete discovery.

The court had previously ordered Breedlove to serve initial disclosures and respond to National Vision’s interrogatories, requests for documents, and requests for authorizations. Breedlove provided documents on January 8, 2021, but the court found that the submission was disorganized, did not include initial disclosures, did not answer the interrogatories, and did not properly respond to the document requests. Breedlove also altered the proposed employment and medical authorizations. She did not respond to National Vision’s second motion.

Motion to Compel

The court granted National Vision’s request to compel discovery in part. It found that Breedlove had not provided the disclosures required by Rule 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Those disclosures include information about people likely to have relevant information, documents and other materials that may support her claims, and calculations of claimed damages.

The court also found that Breedlove had not timely responded or properly objected to the interrogatories and requests for production. It ruled that any objections had been waived because they were not timely made. The court ordered Breedlove to answer the interrogatories and supplement her responses to the requests for production, including documents supporting her claimed damages and documents cited in her responses.

The court required Breedlove to authorize the release of employment records from after June 18, 2019, without redaction, modification, or limitation. It reasoned that those records could be relevant to whether she took reasonable steps to reduce losses after her employment ended.

The court granted only part of the request concerning medical records. Breedlove alleged disability discrimination but did not identify the disability in her complaint or discovery responses. The court concluded that medical information related to the disability claim was relevant, but that National Vision was not entitled to a lifetime of medical records. The order therefore required authorization for records from medical providers Breedlove had seen from June 15, 2014, through the present, without redaction, modification, or limitation.

Sanctions and Attorney Fees

The court ordered Breedlove to pay National Vision $75 as reasonable expenses caused by her failure to timely provide discovery. It denied National Vision’s request for attorney fees because the motion was granted in part and denied in part.

The court did not dismiss the case. It warned Breedlove that failure to comply with the order, earlier orders, or applicable rules could lead to additional sanctions, including a recommendation that the action be dismissed.

Discovery Deadline

The court found good cause to modify the pretrial scheduling order and extended the fact-discovery deadline so the defendants could review the discovery and depose Breedlove. It denied National Vision’s request to prevent Breedlove from benefiting from the extension. An amended pretrial scheduling order was to issue.

Disposition

The order states that National Vision’s Motion to Compel Discovery and Extend its Discovery Deadlines was GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. Breedlove was given 21 days from the order’s date to provide the required disclosures, interrogatory answers, supplemental document responses, and record authorizations. The case was not dismissed.