Opinion
Civil Action No. 11-cv-01096-WJM-KMT
01-13-2012
KATHLEEN SEABRON, ROBERT LAYS, CARLA LAYS, KRISTY LARSON, and VALERIE JENKINS, individually, and as class representatives of behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. AMERICAN FAMILY MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY, and AMERICAN STANDARD INSURANCE COMPANY OF WISCONSIN, Defendants.
Magistrate Judge Kathleen M. Tafoya
ORDER
This matter is before the court pursuant to an in camera review of additional materials submitted by Defendants in accordance with the court's orders on November 4, 2011 [Doc. No. 98], November 17, 2011 [Doc. No. 103], and December 5, 2011 [Doc. No. 120, "In Camera Review Order"]. The In Camera Review Order set forth in detail the background underlying the court's review and the same will not be repeated here.
The In Camera Review Order noted, as to the court's review of DEFCAMERA001213 - 001273, the so-called "Nolan Study," that Defendants had not provided the court with Appendix B and Appendix C of the study. Therefore the court ordered that "Defendants shall produce the two appendices for in camera review for judicial determination as to responsiveness and relevancy on or before December 8, 2011." (In Camera Review Order ¶ 8.)
On December 8, 2011, the Defendants delivered Appendix B and Appendix C to the court as required. (See DEFCAMERA001292-1306.) Appendix B to the Nolan Study is a "Savings Calculation Worksheet" in spreadsheet format. The columns at the top of the chart are entitled, "Rec.," "Description," "Volume Driver," "Savings Description," "Position," "# of Positions or Volume," "Minutes," "Measure," (a narrow column without title and without data in the relevant portions noted herein) and "Annual FTE Savings." The lines items on the side correlate to the topics in the report as a whole. Not all columns have information or data in every line.
The court has previously found that within the Nolan Study, certain portions of the report were relevant and should be produced in discovery, namely DEFCAMERA001213, 001215 - 001216, 001217 (redacted to remove the names of all participants except those listed as Denver based employees), 001218 - 001220, 001236 - 001243, and 001263 - 001270. In particular, the portions of the report dealing with section 4, Medical Bill Processing, and section 13, Policies and Procedures, were relevant to the claims and defenses in this case. Therefore, the sections of Appendix B denoted under the column "Rec." related to line items 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d (on DEFCAMERA 1293) and line items denoted 13a, 13b, 13c, and 13d (on DEFCAMERA1294) are relevant as well.
Anticipating skepticism by Plaintiffs, the court notes that as to line items 13a, 13b, 13c, and 13d on DEFCAMERA1294, there is no information or data in the columns "Position," "# of Positions or Volume," "Minutes," "Measure," (the narrow column) and "Annual FTE Savings."
Additionally, on the last page of Appendix B, DEFCAMERA 1295, there is a small table entitled "Current Staff." The court finds that this column contains information which is relevant to the claims and defenses in this case and that the information which is not particularly relevant is not so highly confidential as to require redaction before production. The Protective Order in place in this case will provide adequate confidentiality of information contained in the "Current Staff" table. Information contained on DEFCAMERA 1295 both above and below the small table is not relevant and may be redacted prior to production.
After full in camera review, the court finds Appendix C (DEFCAMERA1297 - 1306) is not responsive to either Interrogatory No. 15 or Request for Production No. 4. Therefore, production of these pages will not be required or ordered.
IT IS ORDERED
1. Defendants shall provide in discovery DEFCAMERA1293 and 1294 to Plaintiffs, redacted of all information except those lines with all data in all fields retained for 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d (on DEFCAMERA 1293) and 13a, 13b, 13c, and 13d (on DEFCAMERA1294).
2. Defendant shall also provide DEFCAMERA 1295 to Plaintiffs as discovery redacted of information except the "Current Staff" table.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED
The Clerk of the Court will receive and retain under restricted access Level 3, the documents produced by Defendants for in camera review labeled as DEFCAMERA001292-1306 as conventionally filed documents.
BY THE COURT:
_________________
Kathleen M. Tafoya
United States Magistrate Judge