Chudacoff v. Univ. Med. Ctr. (Summary)

LITIGATION – PUNITIVE DAMAGES

Chudacoff v. Univ. Med. Ctr., No. 2:08-cv-00863-RCJ (D. Nev. Feb. 1, 2013)

A doctor sued a university medical center and a variety of other individuals for suspending his medical staff privileges, which allegedly also resulted in the termination of his professorship.  This decision involved a variety of discovery disputes.  Essentially, the doctor served interrogatories and requests for production on several defendant doctors, seeking information of each person’s net worth in calculating punitive damages.  The individuals objected to the interrogatories and requests as being irrelevant and invasive of their personal privacy.  Nevertheless, they ultimately presented some of the requested documents.  But the doctor still moved to compel the production of other documents.

In this decision, the court clarified what exactly the individuals had to produce in response to the doctor’s discovery requests.  In Nevada, personal wealth is considered relevant to the issue of punitive damages.  Although the relevance is limited to an individual’s current financial condition, some discovery is allowed with respect to the individual’s prior financial condition.  However, other states have limited such discovery to two years from the time that the lawsuit was filed, because only the person’s present financial condition is relevant to punitive damages.  This court similarly limited the relevant time period.  Therefore, it only required the individuals to produce their 2010, 2011, and 2012 federal income tax returns and only required the individuals to respond to the interrogatories with information from January 1, 2011 to the present.  It thus granted in part the doctor’s motion to compel discovery.

In addition, the doctor and the individuals sought discovery sanctions from each other for other discovery violations.  Since both parties had behaved badly in those instances, the court decided to offset their fees and expenses.  However, it denied the motion for sanctions with respect to the individuals’ refusal to provide the requested financial information.