Procedural filing on discovery objections in Edwards and Cassell v. Dershowitz

Case 9:08-cv-80736-KAM Document 319-1 Entered on FLSD Docket 03/24/2015 Page 30 of 34 Thomas E. Scott, Jr., Esq. Re: Edwards and Cassell v. Dershowitz February 25, 2015 Page 2 Thus, this Court has deemed such “ostensible” objections waived or [has] declined to consider them as objections. Sonnino v. Univ. of Kan. Hosp. Auth., 221 F.R.D. 661, 666-67 (D. Kan. 2004) (citations omitted). Of course, where claims of privilege are involved, the response must include a privilege log enabling us (and the court, if necessary) to assess the applicability of the privilege claimed. See Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.280(b)(5S). Under Florida law, "the burden is upon the party asserting a privilege to establish the existence of each element of the privilege in question." Fla. Sheriff's Self-Ins. Fund v. Escambia County, 585 So.2d 461, 463 (Fla. 1* DCA 1991). General or blanket objections are inappropriate in and of themselves: "A 'blanket' objection to interrogatories consisting of many, separate questions is insufficient. Objections in such a case should be addressed ‘to a particular interrogatory or class of interrogatories, not to the interrogatories in general." Twadell v. Twadell, 199 So. 2d 501 (Fla. 4 DCA 1967) (quoting Carson v. City of Ft. Lauderdale, 173 So.2d 743 (Fla. 2d DCA 1965)). The same principles apply to the general objections you have raised to our production requests. Boilerplate Objections A boilerplate objection such as "overbroad, burdensome, and not reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence," baldly asserted, is "patently without merit." Such "stonewalling tactics" constitute discovery abuse. First Healthcare Corp. y. Hamilton, 740 So.2d 1189, 1193 (Fla. 4" DCA 1999); see also First City Devs. Of Fla., Inc. v. Hallmark of Holly Condo. Ass 'n, 545 So.2d 502, 503 (Fla. 4" DCA 1985) (noting that conclusory objections such as "burdensome" and "not reasonably calculated ..." are "words of the art [that] have little meaning without substantive support, .."). Every burdensome objection you have raised is required to be supported by an affidavit detailing the extent of the burden claimed to preclude a substantive response. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_014113