Also known as: undue hardships
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A significant burden or difficulty that exceeds what is reasonable to require under the circumstances. The standard measures whether an obligation or action would impose excessive cost, effort, or disruption relative to the benefit or need involved.
After a warehouse fire, Apex Logistics sought Guardian Mutual's adjuster notes and cause summaries prepared after the loss. Guardian asserted work product protection. Apex could not show it lacked any practical way to learn the fire's cause through its own investigation or third-party sources. The court denied the motion because Apex failed to demonstrate it could not obtain equivalent information without undue hardship.
Upjohn's in-house counsel directed lower-level employees to provide facts about questionable payments. The government sought those interview memos in discovery. The employees had acted at superiors' direction to help secure legal advice. The memos remained protected because the government could not show substantial need paired with inability to obtain equivalent facts without undue hardship.
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Union Steel operated a plant whose emissions substantially interfered with Uma Upadhyay's adjacent farm. Union could have installed feasible controls that would have eliminated most of the harm. Because the controls could be added without undue hardship, the invasion was unreasonable and supported an injunction.
Ulrike Ulrich, a university employee with a mobility impairment, requested a reserved parking space near her building. The university claimed the change would require major construction. Because the modification could be made at modest expense without disrupting operations, the court found no undue hardship and ordered the accommodation.
Uriel Urban, a foreign national subject to the entry proclamation, sought a waiver to visit a critically ill parent. The government reviewed whether entry would pose a threat and whether the visit served the national interest. Finding that the family emergency created undue hardship and that entry posed no safety risk, the agency granted the waiver.
Urban Utley, a landlord subject to San Jose's rent control ordinance, sought a larger increase because fixed rents would prevent a fair return. The city considered whether the restriction imposed undue hardship on the landlord while still protecting tenants from excessive increases. The ordinance's mechanism allowed case-by-case adjustments to avoid undue hardship on either side.
The requesting party must demonstrate both substantial need for the materials to prepare its case and that it cannot obtain their substantial equivalent by other means without undue hardship. Even when that showing is made, the court must still protect attorney mental impressions and legal theories.
Under the ADA an employer must show the accommodation would impose significant difficulty or expense in the overall context of its business. Title VII requires only that the accommodation not impose more than a de minimis cost. Anything beyond that minimal level constitutes undue hardship.
The owner must show that literal enforcement of the ordinance would produce unnecessary hardship because no effective use can be made of the property, the hardship is unique to the parcel and not self-created, and the variance will not harm the public welfare or the zoning plan.
The person must demonstrate great distance, grave family illness, or another emergency that outweighs the obligation to serve, or severe economic hardship to an employer from the absence of a key employee during a lengthy trial. The excuse must be consistent with the policies of the Jury Selection Act.
…things constituting attorney work product upon a showing of substantial need and inability to obtain the equivalent without undue hardship. This was the standard applied by the Magistrate, 78-1 USTC ¶ 9277, p. 83,604. Rule 26 goes on, however, to state that "[i]n ordering discovery of such materials when the required showing…