A.J. v. Weber
- George Daniels
- 1:18-cv-12112
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Joshua Ardolf v. Bruce Weber, Judge Netburn allowed questioning about medical records and sealed an unredacted filing.
The defendant may question Nancy Ly about Anthony Baldwin’s medical records during her deposition, and the parties may maintain a redacted public filing with an unredacted version under seal.
What happened
In Joshua Ardolf v. Bruce Weber, the defendant asked to question Anthony Baldwin’s wife, Nancy Ly, about Baldwin’s medical, psychological, and psychiatric records. The plaintiffs opposed that request.
The court found the records relevant because Baldwin sought damages for emotional distress and pain and suffering, and because Ly had been identified as a witness with information about those issues. The plaintiffs did not show that the questioning would be excessively burdensome.
Judge Sarah Netburn granted the defendant’s motion and also granted the parties’ request to file a redacted version of the motion publicly and an unredacted version under seal. The Clerk was asked to close the two motions.
The detailed version
- A.J. v. Weber · No. 1:18-cv-12112
- George Daniels
- May 15, 2020
Background
The defendant moved for permission to question Nancy Ly, the wife of plaintiff Anthony Baldwin, about Baldwin’s medical, psychological, and psychiatric records during Ly’s deposition. The plaintiffs opposed the request and asked that the defendant be barred from confronting Ly with those records. The parties also jointly sought permission to file an unredacted version of the defendant’s letter motion under seal.
Deposition Questioning
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(1) generally permits discovery—information exchanged before trial—about nonprivileged matters relevant to a claim or defense and proportional to the needs of the case. The court noted that the parties did not dispute the relevance of Baldwin’s mental-health and medical records. Baldwin sought damages for emotional distress and pain and suffering, including mental anguish, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and sleep disturbances. The plaintiffs had also identified Ly as a witness with information about Baldwin’s allegations, pain and suffering, and emotional distress.
The court therefore concluded that it was reasonable for the defendant to question Ly about Baldwin’s mental health. The plaintiffs argued that showing Ly the records would merely help the defendant present its defense. But they did not show that the anticipated questioning would be excessively burdensome or establish good cause for preventing it. The court also noted that the plaintiffs conceded the records could be presented to a jury.
Filing Under Seal
The defendant’s motion discussed Baldwin’s medical information. Because a redacted version was already filed publicly, the court found good cause to permit that redacted version to remain on the docket while an unredacted version was filed under seal.
Ruling
Judge Sarah Netburn granted the defendant’s motion to question Ly about Baldwin’s medical records. The court also granted the motion for leave to file the redacted version of the letter motion on the docket and the unredacted version under seal. The Clerk was respectfully requested to terminate the motions at ECF Nos. 114 and 116.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.