Disability Rights New Jersey (“DRNJ”), an advocacy group, fired Norma Davis as a senior staff attorney in January 2020. Davis files an action under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (the state employment-discrimination law); the complaint alleges defendants, through the discriminatory firing, “have caused plaintiff to suffer personal hardships, including economic loss, physical and emotional distress, anxiety, pain and suffering, humiliation, and career, family, and social disruption.”
The case proceeds to discovery.
Defendant’s First Set of Interrogatories:
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7. Identify the nature of plaintiff’s emotional injuries.
Plaintiff’s Reponses to Defendant’s First Set of Interrogatories
7. I suffer from ongoing emotional distress due to defendants’ discrimination, which has led to physical manifestations, including terrible migraines, insomnia, worsening of her diabetes, and worsening blood pressure.
Defendant’s Request for Production of Documents
1. Provide copies or links to all social media postings, profiles and comments from January 1, 2020 to the present, regarding any of the following:
• Disability Rights New Jersey, its executive director Gwen Orlowski, and general counsel Ellen Catanese
• The allegations of the current lawsuit
• Posts that express an emotion, sentiment, or feeling, excluding opinions about politics and posts saying “happy birthday”
• Posts discussing or mentioning vacations, trips, parties, or celebrations
• Posts discussion or mentioning illness or worries about illness
• Posts that mention work
• Posts containing pictures of plaintiff
Plaintiff’s Response to Defendant’s Request for Production of Documents
1. Plaintiff objects to Request # 1, as it is overbroad, is not described with reasonable particularity, seeks protected private information, is not relevant, and is unduly burdensome and costly in light of what is sought.
Davis files a Motion for a Protective Order; DRNJ files a Cross Motion to Compel Production.
For DRNJ, argue that the Motion to Compel should be granted and the Motion for a Protective Order should be denied, including the role of any prospective confidentiality order.
