DiPippo v. County Of Putnam

Background

Plaintiff Anthony DiPippo filed a letter motion asking the court to compel the Orange County District Attorney’s Office (OCDA), a non-party, to produce documents concerning Defendant Patrick Castaldo’s 2014 prosecution for filing a false instrument. The court had previously directed OCDA to provide a detailed privilege log and submitted documents for private judicial review.

DiPippo sought two groups of documents: photographs and medical records allegedly documenting injuries sustained during Castaldo’s arrest of Kenneth DeFreitas in July 2014, and cellphone usage records for Castaldo and then-Chief of the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department Gerald Schramek from the day of the arrest. The defendants took no position on the request but asked that any produced documents be marked confidential under the parties’ confidentiality order.

Court’s analysis

OCDA asserted that the medical records and photographs were protected under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and DeFreitas’s privacy rights. OCDA also argued that the cellphone records would reveal third parties’ phone numbers and were not relevant.

After reviewing the documents privately, the court found that all of them were relevant for discovery. The court noted that DiPippo’s complaint raised claims including malicious prosecution, fabrication, deprivation of liberty without due process, failure to intervene, civil-rights conspiracy, supervisory liability, and municipal liability. The court also found factual similarities between Castaldo’s alleged 2014 misconduct and the conduct alleged in DiPippo’s complaint.

The court determined that DeFreitas’s privacy interests could be protected through confidentiality and attorney-eyes-only designations. It also required redaction of personal identifying information, including dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and home addresses, while allowing DeFreitas’s name to remain. For the cellphone records, the court required confidentiality treatment and redaction of the first six digits of every listed phone number.

Order

The court ordered OCDA to produce documents Bates-stamped OCDA 84-191 by December 10, 2019. All documents had to be designated confidential under the parties’ confidentiality order; the medical records and photographs, Bates-stamped OCDA 84-176, also had to be designated attorneys’ eyes only. OCDA had to redact personal identifying information and the first six digits of phone numbers in Bates-stamped OCDA 177-191.

Judge Judith C. McCarthy signed the order as United States Magistrate Judge.