Manuel Fernandez Vargas v. Specialty Industrial, LLC

Summary

The court granted Plaintiff Manuel Fernandez Vargas’s unopposed motion to compel discovery responses from Specialty Industrial, LLC. The court ordered Defendant to provide complete responses to interrogatories and requests for production within 14 days and held that untimely objections, except for attorney-client privilege, were waived. The court also awarded Plaintiff $500 in reasonable expenses under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(a)(5)(A).

Holdings

1. A party that fails to provide timely responses to interrogatories and requests for production may be compelled under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37 to provide complete responses. Defendant was ordered to serve complete written responses within 14 days.
2. Defendant waived any objections to Plaintiff's interrogatories and requests for production by failing to assert them timely, except for objections based on attorney-client privilege.
3. Because the motion to compel was granted and none of Rule 37(a)(5)(A)'s exceptions applied, Defendant was required to pay Plaintiff reasonable expenses. Because Plaintiff supplied no evidence of actual expenses, the court awarded a $500 lump sum rather than the requested $1,000.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Defendant should be compelled under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37 to provide complete responses to Plaintiff's interrogatories and requests for production.
2. Whether Defendant waived objections to the discovery requests, other than attorney-client privilege, by failing to serve timely objections.
3. Whether Plaintiff was entitled to reasonable expenses under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(a)(5)(A), and, if so, the appropriate amount.

Disposition

other