Judge: Daniel M. Crowley, Case: 22STCV22258, Date: 2023-02-21 Tentative Ruling
Case Number: 22STCV22258 Hearing Date: February 21, 2023 Dept: 28
Plaintiff, Ebony Tay, sued
Defendant, Neiman Marcus Group, LLC, alleging that following an incident at
defendant’s store on January 2, 2021, she was diagnosed with a condition known
as Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS).
According to the Mayo Clinic,
“The cause
of CRPS isn't completely understood. It's thought to be caused by an
injury to or difference in the peripheral and central nervous
systems. CRPS typically occurs as a result of a trauma or an injury.
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Many cases
of CRPS occur after a forceful trauma to an arm or a leg. This can
include a crushing injury or a fracture.
Other major and minor traumas — such as
surgery, heart attacks, infections and even sprained ankles — also can lead
to CRPS.
It's not well understood
why these injuries can trigger CRPS. Not everyone who has such an injury
will go on to develop CRPS. It might be due to an interaction between your
central and peripheral nervous systems that isn't typical and different
inflammatory responses.”
Defendant
served a subpoena on Plaintiff’s primary medical provider, Kaiser, seeking
records of her medical treatment since her first visit there. Plaintiff seeks to quash the subpoena on the
grounds that it is overbroad, and seeks records for an unlimited period of
time. Plaintiff argues that the
subpoenas are overbroad in time and scope.
Plaintiff’s opposition concedes
that Plaintiff has only treated with Kaiser for 4 years, so her argument about
temporal overbreadth is hypothetical, at best.
The scope of discovery into an individual’s
medical history is governed by the nature of claims the individual asserts. The broader the claims, the greater the scope
of discovery. By filing a personal injury action, plaintiffs place in issue
their past and present physical and/or mental conditions related to the injury
sued upon. All medical records relating to the claimed injuries are
thus discoverable. (Evidence Code §§ 996, 1016; Britt v. Superior Court (1978) 20 Cal.3d 844, 862-864.)
Normally, information about medical conditions
entirely different from the injury sued upon is beyond the scope of discovery.
However, medical records pertaining to an unrelated condition are
discoverable on a showing of "good cause" if the condition is
relevant to the issue of proximate causation. (Evidence Code §999; Slagle
v. Superior Court (1989) 211 Cal.App.3d 1309,
1314-1315.) Given the
difficulty in determining the etiology of Plaintiff’s claims, the Court finds
Defendant has established good cause and will allow broad discovery.
The motion to quash is denied.