Brunckhorst III v. Bischoff

Background

Defendant Eric Bischoff moved to compel discovery from Plaintiff Frank Brunckhorst III and sought an extension of the fact-discovery deadline. Discovery is the pretrial exchange of information, documents, and answers to written questions between parties.

Bischoff requested documents and answers to interrogatories—written questions requiring responses—about Brunckhorst’s employment at Boar’s Head Provisions Co., Inc. and its affiliates. Bischoff sought materials dating back to 2003 and argued that Brunckhorst should either provide the information or be barred from testifying that the nature of his employment changed over time. Brunckhorst offered to produce materials from January 1, 2020, onward, but Bischoff rejected that proposal.

Court’s Analysis

The court applied Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(1), which permits discovery of nonprivileged information that is relevant to a claim or defense and proportionate to the needs of the case. The court agreed that the requested materials and responses were relevant to whether Brunckhorst was an “Active Employee” in May 2021 under a Shareholder Agreement governing the transfer of the disputed shares. The court also found Bischoff’s requests proportional to the needs of the case.

Ruling

The court granted Bischoff’s motion to compel Brunckhorst to produce the requested documents and answer the interrogatories. The court also granted the request to extend the deadline for fact discovery, setting that deadline for December 15, 2022. All other discovery deadlines were extended by forty-five days. The Clerk of Court was directed to close the motions pending at Docket Numbers 181, 184, and 187.