Also known as: motions to enforce discovery · motion to compel discovery · motion to compel
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A procedural device by which a party seeks a court order requiring another party to produce information or materials in response to discovery requests.
Metro Bank served requests for production on Momentum Capital seeking archived email threads from a failed loan deal. Momentum Capital responded that the messages resided on decommissioned servers and would cost over $200,000 to restore. Metro Bank filed a motion to enforce discovery. The court required Momentum Capital to demonstrate inaccessibility and, after finding the showing insufficient, ordered production subject to cost-sharing conditions.
Melanie Morris sued Mirage Hotels after a slip-and-fall incident and requested incident reports from the prior three years. Mirage Hotels withheld dozens of documents under a blanket privilege claim. Melanie Morris filed a motion to enforce discovery. The court reviewed the log and ordered production of the non-privileged reports after finding the privilege assertions overbroad.
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Maurice Marshall sought customer complaint files from Monarch Pharmaceuticals in a product-liability action. Monarch Pharmaceuticals moved for a protective order claiming the files contained trade secrets. Maurice Marshall opposed and filed a motion to enforce discovery. The court balanced the parties' interests and compelled production under a confidentiality stipulation.
Meredith Maxwell brought wage claims against her former employer and sought personnel files during pre-arbitration discovery. The employer resisted, citing an arbitration clause. Meredith Maxwell filed a motion to enforce discovery. The court ordered limited production to allow assessment of the arbitration agreement's validity.
Miguel Mendoza sought counseling records from a social worker in a premises-liability suit against a hotel. The social worker resisted production on privilege grounds. Miguel Mendoza filed a motion to enforce discovery. The court denied the motion after determining the communications fell within the psychotherapist-client privilege.
Maya Malik sued her former employer for wrongful termination and requested performance evaluations. The employer withheld the documents as confidential. Maya Malik filed a motion to enforce discovery. The court granted the motion after finding the arbitration agreement did not bar ordinary civil discovery pending the enforceability determination.
The responding party must show that the electronically stored information is not reasonably accessible because of undue burden or cost. Once that showing is made, the requesting party may still obtain an order by demonstrating good cause under Rule 26(b)(2)(C).
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A motion to enforce discovery seeks an order compelling production. A motion for protective order seeks to limit or avoid discovery. The same rule provisions govern both when electronically stored information is at issue.
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Yes. After the responding party demonstrates undue burden or cost, the court may still order discovery if the requesting party shows good cause, and the court may impose conditions on the discovery.
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…Beyer also refused to produce any notes or reports from Officer Redmond's counseling sessions. The plaintiffs filed another motion to compel Karen Beyer to answer certain questions to which objections had been made and to produce all of her notes and reports on Mary Lu Redmond. After Karen Beyer's second deposition session, the…