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French v. Hawaii Pizza Hut9/30/2004
imination alleged in the civil complaint cannot be said to be "consistent with [Appellant's] original theory of the case" as submitted to the HCRC. Id. Therefore, the court was ultimately correct in ruling that Appellant was precluded from bringing a claim of gender discrimination under HRS ยง 378-2.
IX.
Appellant's claim that the court erred in denying Appellant's Motion to Compel Discovery in part, is reviewed on appeal for abuse of discretion. See Hac v. Univ. of Hawaii, 102 Hawaii 92, 95, 73 P.3d 46, 49 (2003) (holding that the court did not abuse its discretion in denying a motion to compel discovery in employment discrimination case). On March 23, 2000, Appellant served her First Request for Production of Documents to Pizza Hut. On April 25, 2000, Pizza Hut refused to produce (1) documents dated between 1995, the year Appellant was terminated, and 2000, the date of the request, as to (a) employee medical leaves, (b) employee transfers, and (c) sales volume, on the ground the request was vague and overbroad and, further, as to item (c), on the ground that this information was not discoverable until she had established a prima facie case for punitive damages. Pizza Hut agreed to produce the Stadium Mall shift schedules, designated herein as item (1)(d), but only from August 1, 1995 to December 1995. Further, Pizza Hut refused to provide (2) the personnel files of all Stadium Mall employees between July and December 1995 and (3) records relating to the termination or resignation of Stadium Mall employees between July 1995 and July 1996.
On August 22, 2000, Appellant filed a motion to compel discovery. On September 13, 2000, the court, in denying the motion in part, (1) ordered production of documents relating to (a) employee medical leaves, (b) employee transfers, and (c) sales volumes for the limited period of January 1, 1995 through December 18, 1995, (2) required that personal information be redacted, and (3) limited item (1)(d) to the period of August 1, 1995 to December 6, 1995.
The court also denied production of items (2) and (3).
As to the documents requested in item (1), we hold that the court abused its discretion in limiting Appellant's request. Hawaii Rules of Civil Procedure (HRCP) Rule 26(b)(1) indicates that the subject matter of a litigant's requests are discoverable if the request was "relevant to the subject matter involved in the pending action" or the request "appears reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence." In Wakabayashi v. Hertz Corp., 66 Haw. 265, 275, 660 P.2d 1309, 1315 (1983), this court concluded that although the trial court possesses considerable discretion in permitting discovery, the appellate court may overturn the decision of the trial court when there has been a "clear abuse of discretion that results in substantial prejudice to a party." Wakabayashi further recognized that " he [HRCP], like the federal procedural rules, reflect a basic philosophy that a party to a civil action should be entitled to the disclosure of all relevant information in the possession of another person prior to trial, unless the information is privileged." Id.
In this case, the discovery of items (1)(a), (b), (c), and (d) were relevant to Appellant's allegation that Pizza Hut failed to adequately accommodate her disability upon her return from medical leave. In line with this theory, such materials were pertinent to the question of whether Pizza Hut's explanation that Appellant was transferred to the Stadium Mall restaurant because of lower sales volume was pretextual.
By limiting discovery of items (1)(a), (b), and (c) to the period of January 1, 1995 to December 18, 1995, and item (1)
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