Use of Omnibus Terms “Relating To,” “Pertaining To,” or “Concerning” in Rule 34 Document Request May Be Improper

Although issued in an antitrust case, In re Urethane Antitrust Litigation, 2008 WL 110896 (D. Kan. Jan. 8, 2008), an opinion by Magistrate Judge Waxse may be relevant to Rule 34 document requests in trade secrets and other litigation wherever filed. In brief, he held that use of the terms “relating to,” “pertaining to,” or “concerning” in such a request can render it objectionable. Do you use those terms in your discovery requests? Don’t we all?

Judge Waxse denied a motion to compel certain parties to produce “[e]ach document concerning your costs of producing, transporting and selling” specified goods. First Request No. 17 (emphasis added). Those parties had objected on the grounds that, in the judge’s words, the request was “overly broad and unduly burdensome on its face because it uses the omnibus phrase ‘each document concerning’ in reference to an extremely broad group of documents.” He held “that a discovery request is overly broad and unduly burdensome on its face if it uses omnibus terms such as ‘relating to,’ ‘pertaining to,’ or ‘concerning’ to modify a general category or broad range of documents or information.” Id. (footnote omitted).

To read this blog post click here