Opinion
C.A. No. 00C-06-010 WLW
Submitted: August 27, 2002
Decided: September 24, 2002
Upon Defendant's Motion for Reconsideration of Appeal of Commissioner's Order of May 9, 2002. Denied.
John S. Spadaro, Esquire, and Roger D. Landon, Esquire, of Murphy, Spadaro Landon, Wilmington, Delaware for the Plaintiff.
Nicholas E. Skiles, Esquire, of Swartz, Campbell Detweiler, Wilmington, Delaware, Curtis P. Cheyney, III, Esquire, Pro Hac Vice, James C. Haggerty, Esquire, Pro Hac Vice, for the Defendant.
ORDER
1. Defendant, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company ("Nationwide" or Crowhorn v. Nationwide Mutual Ins. Co. C.A. No. 00C-06-010 WLW September 24, 2002 "defendant"), seeks reconsideration of Commissioner Freud's ("Commissioner") order granting Plaintiff, James M. Crowhorn's ("Crowhorn" or "plaintiff") motion to compel production of certain training documents referred to as "the training materials".
2. Nationwide contends that "the training materials" have nothing to do with either the issues relevant to class certification nor merit discovery pertaining solely and only to the named plaintiff.
3. Further, the sole basis for the motion before the Commissioner was that counsel for the defendant allegedly promised to produce the documents. Nationwide contends that no such promise was made.
4. Plaintiff asks that this Court uphold the Commissioner's May 9, 2002 Order and further states that the requested documents are independently relevant to both class certification and to plaintiff's punitive damage claims.
5. Plaintiff also claims that the Commissioner did determine that a promise had been made, and broken, thereby giving a basis for the sanctions ordered.
6. The Commissioner, having heard the arguments at the hearing on May 9, 2002, determined at page 30 of the Hearing Transcript that:
"I have reviewed both the motion papers from the plaintiff and the defense in this matter, and after consideration of the arguments presented here today, it is my opinion that the matters requested by Mr. Crowhorn are relevant or are designed to find relevant information in this action on either the merits and/or the class certification, and, therefore, I am going to grant Mr. Crowhorn's motion.
Now, therefore, after careful reconsideration of the Commissioner's May 9, 2002 Order, and for the reasons set forth in the Commissioner's order, I find that the order will be upheld in all respects. The discovery requested shall be made within five (5) days of this Order and the sanctions paid within that same time frame.
IT IS SO ORDERED.