Nathaniel Lerum v. Heritage-Crystal Clean, Inc., et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the Western District of Washington resolves a discovery dispute concerning eight proposed third-party subpoenas. The court orders defendants to modify subpoenas to exclude mental health records and limits requests for employment records from four subsequent employers absent a specific showing of relevance.

Holdings

1. When a plaintiff alleges only garden-variety emotional distress, has not alleged a diagnosed psychological injury, and does not intend to rely on treating providers to support emotional-distress damages, the providers' treatment of a physical injury does not place potentially held mental-health records at issue; the subpoenas must therefore be modified to exclude those records.
2. Broad employment records from separate, subsequent employers are not discoverable absent a specific showing of relevance; generalized assertions that the records might concern accommodation, mistreatment, separation, or mitigation are insufficient.

Questions Presented

1. Whether subpoenas to Plaintiff's treating medical providers should be modified to exclude mental-health records when Plaintiff alleged garden-variety emotional distress, no diagnosed psychological injury, and no intent to rely on those providers for emotional-distress damages.
2. Whether subpoenas to Plaintiff's subsequent employers should be modified to exclude broad employment-record requests when Defendants made only generalized assertions of relevance.

Disposition

other