SUPREME COURT SPEAKS TO GENERAL DISCOVERY OBJECTIONS
In Ford Motor Co. and World Rental Car Sales of Miss. v. Tennin, No. 2003-IA-02546-SCT, Ford was accused of multiple discovery violations during the pre-trial process. At trial, Ford got a unanimous defense verdict. In ruling on the post-trial motions, the Judge decided that the violations were so egregious that the Plaintiff was entitled to a new trial and the Court further awarded Plaintiff's counsel over $200,000 in fees and expenses for having to deal with the discovery issues. The Mississippi Supreme Court ultimately found that the Plaintiff failed to actively pursue motions to compel and get orders on the perceived violations. Without such orders, the trial court could not find a discovery violation that would warrant these sanctions. The Mississippi Supreme Court did find one violation of a discovery order by Ford and although it reversed the granting of a new trial, it remanded the case to the trial court for a determination of monetary sanctions that would be more in proportion to the violation of a single order.
The Supreme Court also discussed "general objections" to written discovery requests. Apparently, Ford's responses to interrogatories and requests for production included preliminary general objections that it claimed applied to all of the requests. The Mississippi Supreme Court stated that general objections that claim to be applicable to each and every request "are clearly outside the bounds of this rule [Mississippi Rule of Civil Procedure 34(b)]." Instead, if a party wants to make an objection, it has to make it to each specific question or request.
Justice Diaz, joined by Justice Graves in dissent, listed what he considered "brazen violations of the discovery process" committed by Ford in this case and in others around the country. Those included "disgorging" hundred of documents without any sort of responsive categorization or indexing, "footdragging" the production of documents until the eve of trial, failing to disclose the names and contact information of witnesses, and generally "a hostility to the process of discovery." Justice Diaz took issue with the majority's "calmness" regarding Ford's actions.
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