Opinion
Civil Action No. 08-cv-00498-LTB-BNB.
December 17, 2008
ORDER
On December 16, 2008, I received directly by United States mail an envelope with a return address for Secure Health Information Corp. The envelope contained a total of nine pages. The second page is captioned "Authorization to Disclose Protected Health Information" and identifies the patient as Antonio DelMonico. It states that the authorization is for the release of information to "Boyd Boland, Clerk's office, Alfred A. Arraj Courthouse, Room A105, 901 19th Street, Denver, CO 80294." Finally, it includes the civil action number for this case.
It is not apparent to me why these materials were sent to the court or who directed that they be sent, and no explanation of any of that is contained among the materials. Local rule of practice 77.2, D.C.COLO.LCivR, prohibits direct communication with a judicial officer, as follows:
In the absence of previous authorization, no attorney or party to any proceeding shall send letters, pleadings, or other papers or copies directly to a judicial officer. Unless otherwise instructed, all matters to be called to a judicial officer's attention shall be submitted through the clerk, with copies served on all other parties or their attorneys. . . .
Perhaps the documents have something to do with the discovery being conducted in the case. In that regard, Fed.R.Civ.P. 5(d) provides in relevant part:
[D]isclosures under Rule 26(a)(1) or (2) and the following discovery requests and responses must not be filed until they are used in the proceeding or the court orders filing: depositions, interrogatories, requests for documents or tangible things or to permit entry onto land, and requests for admission.
(Emphasis added.)
The materials appear to include medical records, which may be confidential.
IT IS ORDERED that a hearing on the issue of what should be done with these materials is set for December 29, 2008, at 11:00 a.m., in Courtroom 401, 4th floor, Alfred A. Arraj United States Courthouse, 901 19th Street, Denver, Colorado.