ASBERRY
v.
SCHOOL BOARD OF PASCO COUNTY, FLORIDA

M.D. Fla. | 2020-01-13
No. 8:18-cv-2222
2017 WL 2447722 District Court, M.D. Florida (2020) Positive Treatment
Cited by 3 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Holding

A plaintiff seeking only 'garden variety' emotional distress damages does not place their mental condition 'in controversy' for discovery purposes.

Facts & Procedural History

Plaintiff sued for race discrimination and retaliation, seeking non-economic damages. Defendant sought Plaintiff's medical history and records, arguin…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.

Topics
Discovery Of Medical Records Mental Condition In Controversy Waiver Of Objections Racial Discrimination

Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Discovery Of Medical Records cases and more on FLexlaw

Opinion of the Court

This cause comes before the Court upon Defendant’s Opposed Motion to Compel Plaintiff’s Discovery Responses (Doc. 26). Plaintiff filed a Response in opposition (Doc. 27). Plaintiff sues Defendant for race discrimination and retaliation, among other claims, and is seeking non-economic damages for “pain and suffering, mental anguish, etc.” as a result of Defendant’s actions (Doc. 19; Doc. 26-1). Defendant seeks to compel the discovery requested in its Requests for Production Nos. 8 and 221 and Interrogatory No. 9, specifically Plaintiff’s medical history and records. Plaintiff argues that because she only seeks “garden variety” emotional distress damages, she has not put her mental condition in controversy, and, as such, Defendant is not entitled to this discovery. For the reasons stated below, Defendant’s motion is denied. Typically, a defendant must show good cause and establish that the plaintiff has put his or her mental condition “in controversy” in order to obtain a plaintiff’s mental health records.

that, in addition to seeking emotional distress damages, a plaintiff must also: (1) bring a claim for intentional or negligent infliction of emotional distress; (2) allege a specific mental or psychiatric injury or disorder; (3) claim unusually severe emotional distress; (4) offer expert testimony in support of an emotional distress claim; or (5) concede that his or her mental condition is in controversy. See id.; see also Laboy v. Emeritus Corp., No. 5:13-cv-582-Oc- 22PRL, 2014 WL 1293440, at *1 (M.D. Fla. Mar. 28, 2014); Chase v. Nova Se. Univ., Inc., No. 11-61290-CIV, 2012 WL 1936082, at *3-4 (S.D. Fla. May 29, 2012); Ortiz-Carballo v. Ellspermann, No. 5:08-cv-165-Oc-10GRJ, 2009 WL 961131, at *2 (M.D. Fla. Apr. 7, 2009). Plaintiff has taken none of these enumerated actions. As such, Plaintiff has not put her mental

condition at issue, and Defendant is not entitled to Plaintiff’s medical records. Moreover, Defendant’s argument that Plaintiff waived objections by not timely responding to the discovery requests2 is unpersuasive under these circumstances. Although a plaintiff might waive potential objections by failing to timely respond to discovery requests, the court may still deny a motion to compel when the discovery request exceeds the bounds of fair discovery. Lane v. Guaranty Bank, No. 6:13-cv-258-Orl-36TBS, 2013 WL 4028185, at *2 (M.D. Fla. Aug. 7, 2013) (citing Siddiq v. Saudi Arabian Airlines Corp., No. 6:11-cv-69-Orl- 19GJK, 2011 WL 6936485, at *3 (M.D. Fla. Dec. 7, 2011)). Because Defendant has failed to

DENIED.

ORDERED in Tampa, Florida, January 13, 2020.

Ere

SEAN P. FLYNN

UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

Footnotes
1 RFP 22 seeks Plaintiff’s fee agreement with counsel. In her response, Plaintiff withdrew her objection to this RFP and agreed to produce her fee agreement with counsel (Doc. 27 at 3-4). As such, the Court will not address RFP 22. Thomas v. Seminole Elec. Coop. Inc., No. 8:16-cv-3404-T-35JSS, 2017 WL 2447722, at *4 (M.D. Fla. June 6, 2017). Several district courts have held that a plaintiff does not put his or her mental condition “in controversy” by seeking “garden variety” emotional distress damages. Id. In order for a plaintiff to put his or her mental condition in controversy, courts have held
2 Plaintiff asserts that she inadvertently missed the original discovery deadline but provided the discovery responses and objections in good faith as soon as possible after the oversight came to Plaintiff’s counsel’s attention (Doc. 27 at 4). make a good cause showing of entitlement to Plaintiff's medical records, the Court finds that the RFP and interrogatory at issue exceed the bounds of fair discovery for purposes of determining Plaintiff's waiver of objections. Accordingly, it is hereby ORDERED: Defendant’s Opposed Motion to Compel Plaintiff's Discovery Responses (Doc. 26) is

Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus

Citator

Cited By

  • Asberry v. Sch. Bd. of Pasco Cnty., 2017 WL 2447722 (M.D. Fla. 2020)
    …counsel. In her response, Plaintiff withdrew her objection to this RFP and agreed to produce her fee agreement with counsel (Doc. 27 at 3-4). As such, the Court will not address RFP 22. Thomas v. Seminole Elec. Coop. Inc., No. 8:16-cv-3404-T-35JSS, 2017 WL 2447722, at *4 (M.D. Fla. June 6, 2017). Several district courts have held that a plaintiff does not put his or her mental condition “in controversy” by seeking “garden variety” emotional distress damages. Id. In order for a plaintiff to put his or her me…
  • Payne v. Seminole Elec. Coop., Inc. (M.D. Fla. 2020)
    …he psychotherapist-patient privilege may be waived under certain circumstances. Id. at 15 n.14. For example, a patient waives the privilege if she puts her mental condition at issue. Thomas v. Seminole Elec. Coop. Inc., No. 8:16-cv-3404-T-35JSS, 2017 WL 2447722, *4 (M.D. Fla. June 6, 2017); Chase v. Nova Se. Univ., Inc., No. 11-61290-CIV, 2012 WL 1936082, *2 (S.D. Fla. May 29, 2012) (same); Guilford, 2009 WL 10664964 at *2 (same); see also Ortiz-Carballo, 2009 WL 961131 at *2 (“Generally, in order to obtai…
  • Hindsman v. Carnival Corp. (S.D. Fla. 2020)
    …Ala. Feb. 24, 2014) (finding plaintiff “clearly put her mental health at issue by contending that she has suffered psychological injuries, mental anguish, and post-traumatic stress disorder”); Thomas v. Seminole Elec. Coop. Inc., No. 8:16-cv-3404, 2017 WL 2447722, at *4 (M.D. Fla. June 6, 2017) (finding plaintiff placed her mental condition at issue by alleging she suffered depression because of defendant’s conduct). However, the mere fact that Hindsman has placed her mental health in controvers…

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw