Discovery: Relevancy and Materiality

Discovery: Relevancy and Materiality

Salazar v. Montana State Fund [12/28/11] 2011 MTWCC 28 Documents which may help establish the elements for proving a bad faith claim have no relevance to an allegation of unreasonableness under the Workers’ Compensation Act.

Connors v. U.S. Fidelity & Guarantee [03/31/10] 2010 MTWCC 7 Where the only issues for the Court to determine involve the claimant’s entitlement for attorney fees and a penalty due to the insurer’s alleged unreasonableness in adjusting the claim, the insurer’s requests for discovery of information such as the claimant’s previous employers and past medical providers are not relevant. The insurer cannot learn things through discovery which it can use to retroactively justify its previous adjusting of the claim.

State Fund v. In Re: Cox [9/30/03] 2003 MTWCC 60 Where paternity of natural child of deceased worker is not in dispute, discovery concerning paternity and the relationship between the deceased and the child is immaterial and is not reasonably calculated to lead to admissible evidence. Protective order barring the discovery is granted.