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Weil v. Dillon Companies1/24/2005
The property owner argued that Hoffman's records were necessary to prepare its theory of defense that her personal mental health problems may have contributed to her emotional distress. Id. at 860. We held that this "garden variety mental suffering claim" raised in Hoffman's complaint did not inject her mental condition into the case so as to impliedly waive her psychotherapist-patient privilege. Id. at 864. Again, essential to our holding was the fact that the plaintiff had not sought compensation for psychiatric expenses but sought damages for mental suffering "incident to her physical injuries." Id. (quoting Johnson, 977 P.2d at 157.)
Turning to the facts of this case, we do not see any reason why Dillon Companies is entitled to discovery of all of Weil's medical records in order to understand the impact the injury had on the level of his pain and suffering or on the quality of his life after the fall. Like the plaintiffs in Johnson and Hoffman, Weil does not seek compensation for counseling or treatment of a psychological nature. Nor is there any evidence that he intends to call an expert witness to testify to his mental suffering or loss of enjoyment of life. Weil's responses to the interrogatories, that he developed a fear of falling and anxiety over a misdiagnosis as a result of the incident, only express the nature of his injury. While these past injuries may have some relevance to his current claims, "relevance alone cannot be the test." Johnson, 977 P.2d at 157. Rather, the test is whether Weil significantly injected his physical and mental condition as the basis of his claim. Hoffman, 87 P.3d at 863-64; Johnson, 977 P.2d at 157; Clark, 668 P.2d at 10. This is determined on a case-by-case inquiry into "the cause and extent of the injuries which form the basis for a claim for relief." Samms v. Dist. Court, 908 P.2d 520, 525 (Colo. 1995) (citing Clark, 668 P.2d at 10).
Just like in Johnson and Hoffman, Weil's "bare allegations of mental anguish, emotional distress, pain and suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life" asserted in his complaint do not rise to the level of injecting his prior mental and physical conditions into the case to the extent that he completely waives the physician-patient privilege. While Johnson and Hoffman involved claims of mental suffering, we held that these claims did not allow the defendant to access either plaintiff's mental health history in order to know the quality of life before the injury. Similarly, Weil does not open up his entire medical history by making generic claims for the loss to his quality of life and for pain and suffering.
By making these claims for injury and a diminished quality of life, Weil impliedly made a limited release of medical records relating to the cause and extent of the injuries and damages sustained as a result of the defendant's claimed negligence. This implied waiver, however, does not amount to a complete release of his prior medical history. While the trial court is vested with wide discretion to control the discovery process, we hold that the trial court in this case abused its discretion when it read Johnson to require Weil to authorize blanket disclosures of medical records without first determining the extent that the records requested were related to Weil's injuries and damages claimed. If Dillon Companies narrows its request and makes a showing that the records requested were related to the injuries and damages complained of in the current litigation, then the court in its discretion could direct discovery to those medical records related to the cause and extent of the injuries and damages claimed and protect records that are wholly unrelated to Weil's current claims. In sum, records related to the cause an
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