McMorgan & Co. v. First California Mortgage Co.

OPINION AND ORDER

In this complex ERISA action, defendant and counterclaimant First California Mortgage Co. (“FCMC”) moves to compel the production of certain documents and for sanctions against plaintiff and counterdefen-dant McMorgan & Company (“McMorgan”). McMorgan brings a countermotion for a protective order barring discovery of the disputed documents. For the reasons hereinafter set forth, the Court grants FCMC’s motion to compel, denies FCMC’s motion for sanctions, and denies McMorgan’s countermotion for a protective order.

I.

This is a complex ERISA action involving a large number of parties. For. the purposes of these motions, only the briefest outline of the facts is required. McMorgan brought the underlying ERISA action against FCMC on behalf of several pension trust funds (the “Trust Funds”) for which McMorgan was the investment manager. FCMC performed real estate mortgage services for the Trust Funds in connection with multiple construction loans made to real estate developers. McMorgan alleges that FCMC exercised discretionary control over the Trust Funds and, therefore, was an ERISA fiduciary. It brings claims against FCMC under ERISA for eight construction loans…