e-Lessons Learned

You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you might find
You get what you need…

Or you may NOT! Simply wanting data in discovery and getting that data are two completely different things. Be careful that the data you are requesting is not overly burdensome and it’s truly important to the issues at hand.

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In the original action, the Plaintiffs were dissatisfied with certain aspects of Indiana’s Medicaid program. The Defendant, FSSA was in charge of administering these aspects of Indiana’s Medicaid program. The Plaintiffs were members of a class action that included all current and future applicants for or recipients of Medicaid. Summary judgment was found in favor of the Plaintiffs, but the court withheld a ruling on the appropriate remedy for the Plaintiffs pending further discussions among the parties and the court.

When determining the appropriate relief for the Plaintiffs, the court needed to determine the scope of the class to determine liability. There was a long battle over data located on FSSA’s computer system that the Plaintiffs believed would aid in determining the scope of relief. Plaintiffs’ analyst outlined the data he needed in an original proposal that was given to FSSA. FSSA sought a protective order for the data and the Plaintiffs filed a motion to compel it. The court granted the motion to compel.

However, following a deposition of an FSSA subcontractor who was in charge of determining the costs of the discovery process, Plaintiffs sought NEW information that they believed FSSA was withholding from them.

FSSA cried foul. They contended that the NEW expanded discovery would cost nearly $100,000 more and take five months to complete. The original discovery, FSSA claimed take cost roughly $16,000 and take only six weeks to complete. Thus, the FSSA was steadfast in obtaining a protective order.

FSSA argued that the data should be prohibited or deferred because that discovery was individualized and not necessary for determining the nature of the relief or the composition of the class. FSSA asked the court to limit its obligation to the data that FSSA outlined in a proposal to the Plaintiffs.

The Plaintiffs opposed the protective order on two grounds.

First, Plaintiffs felt that they were entitled to whatever data they needed according to their data analyst because the court ALREADY ordered FSSA to provide Plaintiffs’ expert with whatever data he wants. But you can’t always get what you want! The court REJECTED the idea that if the expert desired the data, FSSA was required to produce every single piece of data that the expert asked for.

Second, Plaintiffs felt that the new costs and time estimates were exaggerated. The court quickly dismissed that claim because FSSA provided the court with sworn testimony, worthy of credence that the discover work would cost $100,000 and take an additional five months to complete. In coming to this conclusion, the court felt that the time and expense burden that Plaintiffs wanted FSSA to bear was GREAT. The court found that the heavy time and expense to handle the discovery outweighed the benefits and importance of that discovery and that simply asserting that their expert would like to have it is NOT enough.

Further, the court found that there was no clear explanation of how the data that FSSA was originally going to produce would be insufficient to determine the scope and appropriate relief of the class. Therefore the court denied the Plaintiffs’ request that FSSA make available ALL data that the expert required.

It just goes to show you, you can’t always get what you want. Make sure that the additional data you are asking for is important and beneficial to resolve the issues of the case. If the burden of time and expense outweighs its importance, you will not have the luxury of receiving that data.

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Article posted on April 29, 2011 at 10:00 AM |              More... 
Tagged as: Accessibility, Production of Data.
View more articles implicating: Experts/Independent Contractors, Miscellaneous
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