Free Order - District Court of Arizona - Arizona

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Ricky Lee Hancock, et al., 13 Defendants. 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 The parties were scheduled to appear for a discovery dispute hearing today. Having reviewed the statements submitted by the parties, the Court will vacate the hearing and resolve the issues as follows. I. Susanne Hilton Documents At a September 27, 2006 hearing, the Court ordered Mr. Goldfine to review employment records of Suzanne Hilton to determine whether "any document exists that would support Mr. Frisbee's position," and if such documents exist, to turn them over by October 4, 2006 "whether or not [the documents are] contained in a personnel file or not." The Court further provided by way of example that such responsive documents would include "anything that would indicate that these payments were made and they were not authorized and Ms. Mesicko knew about it and [that] there's a possibility that she was retaliated against..." [Tr. at 11:25-12:7 (Sept. 27, 2006)]. The parties dispute whether the
Case 2:04-cv-00384-ROS Document 393 Filed 10/17/2006 Page 1 of 3

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

Meritage Homes Corporation, et al., Plaintiffs, vs.

) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

No. 04-0384-PHX-ROS ORDER

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documents exist. Mr. Goldfine contends that there were "no documents with respect to Ms. Hilton that supported Mr. Frisbee's theory; thus, no documents pertain to her were produced on October 4, 2006." [Doc. #389]. The Court will not order production of documents that do not exist. Greg Hancock's request for further production is denied. II. Landon Documents and Deposition The Court ordered that half day depositions of Hilton, Landon and Arneson be completed prior to October 16, 2006. After the hearing, the parties agreed to extend some of the deadlines, including Landon's deposition on October 19. Greg Hancock asks that the documents requested in advance of Landon's deposition be produced by 5:00 p.m. on October 16 and that Landon be ordered to appear in Phoenix for his deposition. The Court already ordered Landon's deposition be taken in Dallas, and Greg Hancock has provided no reason why the location should be changed. Greg Hancock also requests that Meritage be ordered to pay all costs, including attorneys' fees, for the remaining depositions, and for extending the October 16 deadline without a court order. Greg Hancock agreed to the extension and no other reason exists why costs and fees should be imposed on Meritage. This request is denied. Any documents not provided by Meritage shall be produced no later than October 17, 2006. B. Arneson Deposition Documents

Rick and Brenda Hancock and the Rick Hancock Corporate Defendants contend that the Arneson documents have not been produced, despite Arneson's scheduled deposition on October 17, 2006. Meritage counters that no additional Arneson documents exist. As stated previously, the Court will not order Plaintiffs to produce something that does not exist. C. Navigant Documents

Rick and Brenda Hancock and the Rick Hancock Corporate Defendants argue that the Navigant (Meritage's damages expert) documents have not been produced, except for one email that was submitted on a DVD disc that required a computer expert to open (the disc only contained this one email). Meritage contends that pursuant to its request, Navigant -2Case 2:04-cv-00384-ROS Document 393 Filed 10/17/2006 Page 2 of 3

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made a supplemental production on October 13, 2006. With regard to the data submitted on the disc, Meritage further contends that Mr. Matthew did not have the software needed to read the disc, but after learning of this fact, Meritage submitted the reformatted data for Mr. Matthew's paralegal and Mr. Matthews to read. There is no issue regarding further production of the documents. The parties are reminded that pursuant to Local Rule of Civil Procedure 7.2(j) and the Court's Rule 16 Order, counsel are to personally meet and confer and make all reasonable efforts to resolve discovery disputes prior to contacting the Court. Several of the issues raised by counsel required no ruling by the Court and constitute a waste of judicial resources. Further attempts to involve the Court in the needless resolution of such matters will result in sanctions. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that Greg Hancock's request for additional documents related to Suzanne Hilton is DENIED. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Landon's deposition shall be taken in Dallas on October 19, 2006. Any documents not produced by Meritage shall be produced on October 17, 2006. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Greg Hancock's request for costs is DENIED.

DATED this 16th day of October, 2006.

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