Perkins v. Superior Court

Opinion

WOODS, J.

This is a proceeding in mandate for review of an order of respondent placing certain limitations upon the scope of written interrogatories propounded by the plaintiff in a personal injury action which seek to discover similar instances of explosions of car batteries manufactured and sold by defendants.

The question presented is whether the particular restrictions placed upon the scope of the interrogatories constitute an abuse of discretion.

Facts

On May 26, 1978, plaintiff filed his complaint for personal injuries. The injuries are alleged to have resulted from a defective car battery manufactured and sold by defendants which exploded in plaintiff’s face on November 17, 1977, as he was attempting to remove the battery cap. The complaint is based upon negligence and products liability theories. On February 28, 1980, plaintiff propounded written interrogatories to defendants. Interrogatories 9 and 10 stated: “9. Have any other lawsuits been filed against Sears, Roebuck & Co. and/or Globe-Union, Inc. concerning personal injuries received from battery explosions of the same make and model number as the battery received by William Forman from plaintiff?

“10. If your response to Interrogatory No. 9 above is in the affirmative, please state:

“(a) The case caption and filing number;

“(b) The date of alleged injury and date of filing;

“(c) The county and state of filing;

“(d) The disposition of the lawsuit.”

[764]

Defendants served objections to interrogatories 9 and 10 stating: “Defendant objects to this interrogatory upon the grounds that it is overly broad and therefore unjustly burdensome and oppressive, because it is not limited in any manner to the circumstances of this accident, specifically, that plaintiff was pulling a stuck battery cap; and that it seeks information which is equally available to the propounder, as lawsuits are a matter of public record, and that it seeks information which is irrelevant to the subject matter of this lawsuit and not designed to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence, or whose relevance to any issue in this lawsuit is so miniscule compared to the burden on this defendant in ascertaining same.” Defendants did not include in their objections any declarations concerning the manner in which actions against them are indexed or the time and expense anticipated for them to obtain the information requested.