Mann v. Cooper Tire Co.

• Decision Date: 01 June 2006
• Docket Number: 7795N.
• Citation: 33 A.D.3d 24,816 N.Y.S.2d 45,2006 NY Slip Op 04335
• Parties: RAMAN MANN, an Infant, by His Guardian ad Litem, GEORGE S. AKST, et al., Appellants, v. COOPER TIRE COMPANY et al., Respondents, et al., Defendants.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

33 A.D.3d 24

816 N.Y.S.2d 45

2006 NY Slip Op 04335

RAMAN MANN, an Infant, by His Guardian ad Litem, GEORGE S. AKST, et al., Appellants, v. COOPER TIRE COMPANY et al., Respondents, et al., Defendants.

7795N.

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, First Department.

June 1, 2006.

Trief & Olk, New York City (Barbara E. Olk of counsel), for appellants.

Herrick, Feinstein LLP, New York City (Alan D. Kaplan of counsel), for respondents.

OPINION OF THE COURT

CATTERSON, J.

In this personal injury action arising out of an automobile accident allegedly caused by a defective tire, the plaintiffs appeal from an order partially denying their motion to compel disclosure. The plaintiffs claim, inter alia, that the motion court narrowed disclosure to the point of "absurdity" and, in granting defendant-respondent Cooper Tire's cross motion, imposed a "crippling" and draconian confidentiality agreement that ostensibly bars the plaintiffs themselves from access to relevant documents.

The underlying personal injury action arises out of an accident on March 4, 2001, when a vehicle owned by defendant Nancy Esperanza Mann and driven by Chamkaur Singh Mann overturned on a trip in Quebec, Canada. The driver was killed in the accident and plaintiffs Raman Mann, an infant, Sundeep Singh, and Sukhjit Kaur (hereinafter referred to as plaintiffs), were seriously injured. The right rear tire of the vehicle was designed and manufactured by defendant Cooper Tire Company and distributed and/or sold by defendant TBC Corporation (hereinafter collectively referred to as Cooper Tire).¹ The tire was manufactured at Cooper Tire's Albany, Georgia plant between May 14 and May 20, 1995.

The plaintiffs sued Cooper Tire for negligence, products liability, and breach of warranty. Specifically, they alleged that the accident was caused by tread separation on the car's rear tire, that the tire was defectively designed and manufactured, and that Cooper Tire failed to provide adequate warnings. Subsequently, plaintiffs also alleged that Cooper Tire failed to prevent the tire from being contaminated by foreign objects and moisture during the manufacturing process.

Cooper Tire initially sought unsuccessfully to have the complaint dismissed as barred by Quebec law. (Mann v Cooper Tire Co., 306 AD2d 23 [2003].) The plaintiffs then served interrogatories and document production requests on Cooper Tire. On September 29, 2003, dissatisfied with Cooper Tire's responses, the plaintiffs moved to compel disclosure.

In their affidavit of support for the motion, the plaintiffs complained that Cooper Tire's response to virtually every disclosure demand was that the demand was "overly broad and burdensome." The plaintiffs provided detailed examples of Cooper Tire's "frivolous responses and objections," such as Cooper Tire's response to an interrogatory asking for the identity of "persons and entities" who designed the tire. Without naming a single individual or entity, Cooper Tire responded: "Cooper employs many individuals in the various tasks which collectively can be considered `designing' a particular tire thus no single person can be considered to have `designed' the subject tire."

A response to an interrogatory about the company's "implementation of any policy, procedure or method and/or material to prevent tread separation" stated unhelpfully and in total contravention of any disclosure standards: "Cooper continually seeks to improve the quality of its products including but not limited to elements such as ride, appearance, uniformity, noise and durability."

The plaintiffs allege that Cooper Tire's failure to comply with legitimate disclosure requests is part of its "programmed response to discovery in cases involving tread separation." In support of this claim, the plaintiffs produced five court orders in five different lawsuits against Cooper Tire in which both state and federal courts held that the company engaged in, inter alia, "bad faith" and "wilful disobedience" during the discovery process.

On October 24, 2003, Cooper Tire cross-moved for a protective order and to compel plaintiffs to produce the subject tire for its inspection.² The motion court in a decision of June 8, 2004, ordered Cooper Tire to provide "more adequate responses." The court further ordered Cooper Tire to disclose, subject to a protective order, the ingredients of its tire formula though not the amounts or order in which they were used, and a general description of the curing process. Additionally, the court limited the scope of disclosure to tires with the "same green tire specifications" and limited the time frame regarding post-manufacture records to the period from May 14, 1995 (the date the court designated as the manufacturing date of the subject tire) to the date of the accident on March 4, 2001. The order of June 8 further held that plaintiffs were entitled to pre-manufacturing documents regarding the design of the subject tire, and post-manufacture documents relating to the testing and inspection of the tire; as well as documents regarding any complaints, legal or consumer, about tread separation.

On June 21, 2004, Cooper Tire sought a stay of enforcement and moved to reargue. Protective order notwithstanding, Cooper Tire argued that the motion court had misapplied the law because its tire formula and ingredients are trade secrets and "not subject to disclosure under any circumstances."

On November 10, 2004, the motion court rescinded its June 8 order, holding that it had misapplied the relevant law. The court now held that Cooper Tire's tire formula and curing process were trade secrets and not discoverable. It further ordered that the remainder of the disclosure sought by the plaintiffs be subject to a confidentiality agreement drafted by Cooper Tire, to the extent that the plaintiffs seek "technical data, research, materials, and documents that provide insight as to the inner workings of the company." The court reinstated that part of its order limiting disclosure to tires with the "same green tire specifications" and limiting the time of post-manufacture documents to the period between manufacture in May 1995 and the accident. Documents relating to the tire's design, testing and manufacture were further limited to a period of two years prior to the manufacture of the subject tire in May 1995 or from the time the tire was first designed, whichever was greater.

On appeal, the plaintiffs assert that the motion court erred in granting Cooper Tire's motion and in curtailing disclosure in a "manner tantamount to allowing respondents to conceal any relevant documents." The plaintiffs further argue that the confidentiality order "cripples" their ability to conduct discovery and that the court's superceding order ignores Cooper Tire's history of wilful disobedience and egregious conduct, which in several instances has prompted other courts to impose sanctions in the tens of thousands of dollars.

Specifically, the plaintiffs assert that disclosure relating to the ingredients of the tire formula goes to the heart of their products liability lawsuit, and that, in any event, Cooper Tire's formula for the now 11-year-old tire is not a trade secret. They further assert that evidence of available alternatives is particularly relevant and that limiting disclosure to the "same green tire specifications" is an "absurdity" given that it prohibits disclosure that could lead to relevant information of tread separation in other tires manufactured by Cooper Tire.

For the following reasons we agree, and modify the motion court's order to compel disclosure as detailed below. At the outset, we acknowledge that discovery determinations rest within the sound discretion of the motion court. (Andon v 302-304 Mott St. Assoc., 94 NY2d 740, 745 [2000], citing Brady v Ottaway Newspapers, 63 NY2d 1031, 1032 [1984].) Further, we note that it is rare that such motion court determinations are reversed or modified on the law. (Patrick M. Connors, Practice Commentaries, McKinney's Cons Laws of NY, Book 7B, CPLR C3101:5A, at 20.) Rather, this Court is vested with the power to substitute its own discretion for that of the trial court even in the absence of abuse. (Andon v 302-304 Mott St. Assoc., 94 NY2d at 745.)

Here, upon review of the record, and having evaluated the competing interests, i.e., plaintiffs' need for information on the one hand and defendants' need to protect against competitive harm and burdensome demands on the other, we find that the motion court misapplied the law, and exercised its discretion improvidently.

The law pertaining to disclosure in New York is clear and well settled. The scope of disclosure provided by CPLR 3101³ is generous, broad, and is to be construed liberally. (Allen v Crowell-Collier Publ. Co., 21 NY2d 403, 406 [1968] [phrase "material and necessary" must be "interpreted liberally to require disclosure, upon request, of any facts bearing on the controversy"].) CPLR article 31 was substantially amended in 1993 to broaden the reach of disclosure devices, but the general view is that the amendments merely codified what New York courts had already effectively determined by making disclosure standards comparable to the liberal, federal standard of discovery under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure rule 26 (b) (1). (See 21 NY2d at 407, citing Rios v Donovan, 21 AD2d 409 [1st Dept 1964]; see also e.g. Fell v Presbyterian Hosp. in City of N.Y. at Columbia-Presbyt. Med. Ctr., 98 AD2d 624, 625 [1st Dept 1983] ["(p)retrial disclosure extends not only to admissible proof but also to testimony or documents which may lead to the disclosure of admissible proof"].) In effect, the interpretation of CPLR 3101's disclosure standard by the courts of this state "demonstrates New York's commitment to ensuring that cases be decided on their merits after a full vetting of the facts." (Patrick M. Connors, Practice Commentaries, McKinney's Cons Laws of...