Monarch Healthcare v. Superior Court

The discovery rules do not discriminate against nonparty deponents. They need not scramble to retain a lawyer to file a motion to quash in order to challenge “records only” discovery requests that seek privileged information. It is sufficient to simply object.

I

Andrew Cassidenti, the head of an obstetrical medical practice group, sued Brian Koperek and other doctors for unfairly competing to secure a managed care contract from Monarch Healthcare covering some 100,000 Orange County residents. Koperek broke away from Cassidenti in 1995 and allegedly used confidential information to underbid him.

*1285 Cassidenti did not initially name Monarch as a defendant. Instead, in October 1998, he served a “records only” deposition subpoena on Monarch’s custodian of records as a nonparty witness. (Code Civ. Proc., § 2020, subd. (d).) Cassidenti sought all documents relating to Monarch’s negotiations with Koperek and with himself.

Monarch did not file a motion to quash. In December 1998, it produced some, but not all, of the documents, raising trade secrets and privacy objections. Discovery was put on hold for six months pending a dispute regarding mandatory arbitration.

Monarch…