Elkharwily v. Franciscan Health Sys. — July 2016 (Summary)

DISCOVERY

Elkharwily v. Franciscan Health Sys.
Case No. 3:15-cv-05579-RJB (W.D. Wash. July 29, 2016)

The District Court for the Western District of Washington denied the motion to compel of plaintiff physician, who was denied appointment and clinical privileges by defendant health system.  The physician sought discovery of all emails and text messages concerning the physician between health system employees, agents, and attorneys, among others.

The health system’s contention was that the discovery request would be overly burdensome and expensive because it did not have an archiving system for emails that would be easily searchable. The court found that the physician failed to show the necessary good cause to compel such a burdensome discovery request.  However, the court held that upon a request by the physician to the health system, the physician could discover the archived emails and text messages of the health system if the physician paid the health system, in advance, the costs of retrieving and restoring the back-up tapes which contained the archived material.