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Schuff v. A.T. Klemens & Son12/27/2000
interrogatories and requests for production from co-defendant M&H;Gas Company. Klemens objected to much of the requests as either irrelevant or unduly burdensome. Nevertheless, Klemens claims that it provided the records up to the date of the accident by making them available for inspection at its counsel's office. Klemens responded to an interrogatory request for work performed at the gas station with:
Copies of records for work done by Klemens at M&H;up to the date of the accident are available for inspection at the office of James, Gray and McCafferty. Generally, what is known about the work described in the records, with regard to the questions asked above, is contained in these records.
In response to an interrogatory request for information regarding "any electrical wiring installation or hookup, including that for any submersible fuel pumps," Klemens replied that: "Klemens' only work was to refeed wiring through conduit and no designing or engineer was required." Further, in response to a request for production of "every contract, subcontract, plan, specifications, drawing, work order, invoice, building permit, inspection report, or other documents, including correspondence, which pertain to work of any kind or nature performed on the premises of the M&H;Gas Station," Klemens replied by referring back to its response that such records were available for inspection at the office of James, Gray and McCafferty. Klemens again referred to this particular response in reply to a request for "all sales documents, invoices, shipping slips, or other documents" that related to the "manufacture, inspection, sale, or delivery of materials and equipment furnished for work at the M&H;Gas Station."
The District Court found that Klemens' response to the foregoing interrogatories and requests for production clearly indicated that Klemens did not do any of the alleged negligent electrical work as set forth by Schuff's theory of the case. The court then observed that Klemens' employee, Wayne Anderson, failed to produce these requested documents at his October 18, 1994 deposition. Anderson's deposition testimony, the court found, was consistent with Klemens' assertion that it had only replaced an electrical service panel, connecting it to existing circuits.
Next, the court observed that counsel for Klemens also frustrated the depositions of its expert witnesses with delay and a refusal to make one witness available--all the while contending that their witnesses' testimony would be redundant and immaterial.
On November 8, 1996, a paralegal working for Schuff's counsel went to McCafferty's office to examine the documents. The paralegal copied 211 pages of documents, including documents indicating that Klemens had relocated the conduit running to the submersible gas pumps in June of 1989 and had installed pilot lights on submersible pump relays in February of 1991. The court found that it was "clear from these documents that Klemens did much more extensive work at M&H;than it had claimed in the preceding four years--work which may well have resulted in the miswiring and/or mislabeling of the submersible pump circuits." The court further found that:
From the documents it is apparent that Darrel Anderson, who denied knowledge of any work by Klemens on the wiring of the submersible gas pumps, did 6 ½ hours of work relocating the conduit to the submersible pumps. His partner in this project was Dennis Zaremski, one of the witnesses that Klemens would not produce and to whom Mr. Fairclough stated that he had spoken, and who did not remember anything except that they had replaced a service panel.
The District Court, in light
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