Production of Computer Printouts in Response to Interrogatories and Production Requests Not Deemed Unauthorized Data Dump

Jackson v. City of San Antonio, 2006 WL 487862 (W.D.Tex. Jan 31, 2006)

In this case, which involves claims of entitlement to FLSA overtime wages, plaintiffs filed a motion to compel pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(a). Plaintiffs alleged, in part, that defendants’ production of computerized pay and time records in response to interrogatories and production requests constituted an “unauthorized ‘data dump.'” Plaintiffs also claimed that the records are “unhelpful, unusable, and nonresponsive” because field descriptors are missing.

Defendants replied that the records contain the requested information, and since the burden of culling out requested information would be equal for both parties, their response was permitted under F.R.Civ.P. 33(d). Also, since particular work weeks relevant to the claims had not been identified, defendants could not identify particular relevant records.

Magistrate Judge Nowak found as follows:

After reviewing the discovery requests at issue, the parties’ briefing on the motion to compel and the exhibits attached to defendants’ response which reflect that defendants supplied the field descriptors and later in December 2005 and January 2006 supplemented their answers further, the motion to compel will be denied. I find that defendants have shown that the burden of extracting the information requested is substantially the same for plaintiffs as defendants, and that the computerized records are an adequate response to these discovery requests.