Andrews v. Cogir Management USA, Inc., et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the Western District of Washington partially granted and partially denied Cogir Management USA, Inc.’s motion for a protective order in a putative class action concerning refundable entrance fees under senior-living residency agreements. The court limited discovery requests referencing ten years of information to six years and struck specified requests as premature merits discovery. It declined to bar discovery concerning current residents, other proposed subclasses, or the Class Action Fairness Act home-state exception.

Holdings

1. Discovery requests seeking information from the prior ten years were overly broad in light of the proposed class and were limited to six years, except that Request for Production No. 5 was not limited on that basis because it concerned current residents.
2. The court declined to prohibit otherwise unspecified discovery concerning current residents or former residents who had received refunds solely because those individuals might not be owed a refund.
3. Interrogatories 12 and 17 and Requests for Production 8, 9, and 10 were beyond the scope of the then-authorized class-certification discovery and were stricken as untimely merits discovery.
4. The court declined to prohibit the limited discovery concerning the Class Action Fairness Act home-state exception because it was relevant at that stage and could be readily provided.

Questions Presented

1. Whether plaintiffs' discovery requests reaching back ten years were overly broad and should be limited to six years.
2. Whether discovery concerning current residents and former residents who had received refunds was outside the scope of the proposed class.
3. Whether specified interrogatories and requests for production constituted premature merits discovery beyond the agreed class-certification phase.
4. Whether discovery concerning the Class Action Fairness Act home-state exception was relevant and permissible at that stage.

Disposition

other