California Family Law Discovery Husband Produce Business Records
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And then you only were served with a demand for product of documents. How do you respond?
Recall that the Code of Ceremonious Procedure requires either a statement that the party will comply, a representation that the party lacks the ability to comply, or an objection to the particular demand. Run into Code Ceremonious Process Department 2031.210(a). A statement indicating compliance must say whether compliance "will be immune either in whole or in role, and that all documents or things in the demanded category that are in the possession, custody, or control of that political party and to which no objection is beingness made will be included in the production." CCP Section 2031.220.
1 must too provide a statement of compliance or disability to comply when the request is but objectionable in function. "If simply part of the demand is objectionable, the response shall contain a statement of compliance or inability to comply with respect to the balance of the detail or category." CCP Department 2031.240.
Beneath are common objections to consider in drafting your responses.
Crushing, oppressive and/or harassing
Code Civil Procedure Section 2023.010(c) explains that one misuse of the discovery procedure is "[east]mploying a discovery method in a manner or to an extent that causes unwarranted annoyance, embarrassment, or oppression, or undue burden and expense." For case, run across Mead Reinsurance Co. 5. Superior Court, 188 Cal. App. 3d 313 (1986), wherein a request was institute burdensome and oppressive because responding would require the review of over xiii,000 case files.
However, "[o]ppression must not be equated with brunt [all discovery imposes some brunt on the opposition] ... to support an objection of oppression at that place must be some showing ... that the ultimate issue of the burden is incommensurate with the result sought." Due west Pico Piece of furniture Co. five. Superior Courtroom, 56 Cal. 2nd 407, 417 (1961) (internal citations omitted).
The disproportionately crushing and oppressive objection can also be used to the extent a request purports to require a party to search electronically stored information from a source non reasonably attainable because of undue burden or expense absent-minded an understanding or court order. CCP 2031.210(d).
Harassing, disproportionately burdensome and/or oppressive may be valid objections if a party is requesting significant personal documents, such every bit calendars or journals, yet there are only fiscal issues at stake. They besides may be useful when the other party is requesting documents that he or she has access to, such as email or text messages with your customer.
In addition, one may object if the probative value of the request may exist substantially outweighed by the expense of responding and the probability that the data will necessitate undue consumption of time and create a substantial danger of undue prejudice or of confusing the problems. See Evidence Code 352. This may be a useful objection if, for example, the parties are only fighting about custody mail-judgment, nonetheless the other party requests banking company records.
Vague, ambiguous and/or overbroad
You may also object if you believe the diction of the request is vague, ambiguous or overbroad. The overbroad objection should exist considered when a party is requesting documents that span over an extended catamenia of time.
Even when a asking is cryptic, a political party has a duty to answer if the "nature of the information sought is apparent." Deyo five. Kilbourne, 84 Cal. App. 3d 772, 783 (1977) ("A party may not deliberately misconstrue a question for the purpose of supplying an evasive answer. (Hunter 5. International Systems & Controls Corp., supra, 56 F.R.D. 617, 625.) Indeed, where the question is somewhat cryptic, but the nature of the information sought is apparent, the proper solution is to provide an appropriate response. (See Cal. Civil Discovery Do, supra § 8.54.)"). In other words, y'all should still answer unless the question is totally unintelligible.
Information equally available to asking party
This objection is oftentimes used in family law when other parties request joint banking concern account statements or the like. Information technology should be considered when the asking requires a party to obtain public records or interview independent witnesses.
Irrelevant
The standard for relevance in discovery is much broader than in admitting evidence in the courtroom. Yet, a asking may exist objected to equally irrelevant if information technology is not calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible bear witness. See CCP Section 2017.010.
In postal service-judgment matters in family law specifically, requests may also be irrelevant if they violate Family Code Section 218 (discovery reopens only every bit to the problems raised in the post-judgment pleadings before the court).
Attorney-client privilege and attorney piece of work product privilege
Confidential communications with your client are protected from discovery under the attorney-client privilege. In addition, work production is privileged. In fact, in that location is an absolute privilege for those writings that reverberate an chaser's impressions, conclusions, opinions, legal inquiry and theories. Note also that there is case law which supports privilege for invoices and billing statements, at the very least while the example is pending. See Testify Code Sections 952 and 954; Lawmaking of Ceremonious Procedure Section 2018.030; L.A. County Bd. of Supervis-ors v. Superior Court (ACLU of So. Cal.), 2 Cal. 5th 282, 297 (2016); L.A. Canton Bd. of Supervisors 5. Superior Court (ACLU of And then. Cal.), 12 Cal. App. 5th 1264, 1274-75 (2017).
Physician/ Psychotherapist-patient privileges
1 can also merits physician or psychotherapist-patient privileges. Nonetheless, these may be waived if the political party has placed his or her mental or medical land at issue, such as when a political party has claimed he or she cannot work based on a inability.
Marital privilege
Communications between spouses may be privileged pursuant to Prove Code Section 980 et seq. This can be an especially important effect if a political party remarries, and there is thereafter postal service-judgment litigation surrounding fiscal or custody issues with the prior spouse.
Privacy rights
Certain requests may intrude on the constitutional rights of privacy of your client or third parties. For example, parties and tertiary parties by and large tin can claim financial privacy protecting depository financial institution records, although the applicability of this privilege is not as clear in family constabulary cases, peculiarly as related to the parties' records. For reference, run across California Code of Constitution, Commodity ane, Section ane; Valley Bank of Nevada v. Superior Court, xv Cal. 3d 652 (1975); Johnson by Johnson v. Thompson, 971 F.2d 1487, 1497 (10th Cir. 1992); DeMasi v. Weiss, 669 F.2d 114, 119-20 (3rd Cir. 1982); Schnabel five. Superior Courtroom, 21 Cal. App. 4th 550 (1993).
Untimely
Discovery requests may also be untimely under Code Ceremonious Process Department 2024.020, which sets the "shut of discovery" at 30 days before trial.
There are many ways to object to discovery requests; the higher up is only meant to provide a sampling of common objections. Of course, there is risk in providing merely objections. The other party volition likely send a meet and confer letter of the alphabet and threaten to file a movement to hogtie. Y'all and your client volition have a decision to make: either produce the documents voluntarily or maintain your objections and potentially be forced to answer to a move to hogtie. Think that sanctions are mandatory if the other party files a motion to compel and you unsuccessfully oppose the motion without justification. It may be worth engaging in meaningful meet and confer efforts to narrow the scope of discovery or define vague or ambiguous requests more narrowly.
Source: https://www.dailyjournal.com/mcle/511-responding-to-discovery-requests-for-documents-in-family-law-cases
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