Acorin v. Trans Union, LLC

[6] 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA [9] 10 || IVYSHANNE ACORIN, Case No.: 24CV38-AJB(BLM) 11 Plaintiff,} ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART PLAINTIFF'S 12 || Vv. MOTION TO COMPEL DEPOSITION OF 13 || TRANS UNION, LLC, DEFENDANT TRANS UNION 14 Defendant.| [ECF No. 27] 15 REDACTED [17] 18 Currently before the Court is Plaintiff's January 21, 2025 Motion to Compel Deposition of 19 || Defendant Trans Union [ECF No. 27 (“MTC")] and Defendant Trans Union’s January 28, 2025 20 || opposition to the motion [ECF No. 28 (“Oppo.”)]. For the reasons set forth below, Plaintiff's 21 motion is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART. 22 DISCOVERY BACKGROUND 23 Discovery opened in this matter on May 30, 2024 ECF No. 15. 24 On November 14, 2024, Plaintiff served a Notice of Trans Union's 30(b)(6) deposition for 25 January 3, 2025. MTC at 7; see also ECF No. 27-1, Declaration of Stephanie Tatar in Support 26 || of Plaintiff's Motion to Compel Deposition of Trans Union, (“Tatar Decl.”) at 2, Exh. 1. 27 On November 19, 2024, Plaintiff served a new Notice of Trans Union's 30(b)(6) deposition 28 || for January 8, 2025. MTC at 7; see also Tatar Decl. at § 7, Exh. 4; Oppo. at 7; see also ECF No. 1 28-1, Declaration of Ritika Singh ESQ In Support of Trans Union LLC’s Response and Opposition 2 to Plaintiff’s Motion to Compel Deposition of Trans Union; Motion for Sanctions; and Motion for 3 Protective Order (“Singh Decl.”) at ¶ 6, Exhibit D. The Notice contained twenty-six deposition 4 topics. Id. 5 On December 24, 2024, Trans Union served confidential documents regarding Trans 6 Union’s policies and procedures regarding consumer disputes and identity theft to Plaintiff. 7 Oppo. at 7; see also Singh Decl., at ¶ 8, Exhibit F. 8 On December 26, 2024, Trans Union informed Plaintiff that its initially designated 9 30(b)(6) witness had a death in the family and alternative dates for Trans Union’s 30(b)(6) 10 deposition may be necessary. Id.; see also Singh Decl., at ¶ 9, Exhibit G; Tatar Decl. at ¶ 9. 11 On January 2, 2025, Plaintiff’s counsel responded that a stipulation would need to be filed 12 with a new deposition date by January 3, 2025. Id.; see also Singh Decl., at ¶ 10; Tatar Decl. 13 at ¶ 10. Trans Union responded that it could move forward with the deposition on January 8, 14 2025 and identified Andrew Montella as Trans Union’s 30(b)(6) witness. Singh Decl. at ¶ 10. 15 On January 6, 2025, Trans Union served Objections to Plaintiff’s Notice of Deposition 16 Topics and requested to meet and confer with Plaintiff. Oppo. at 7; see also Singh Decl., at ¶ 17 ¶ 11 and 13, Exhibit I; Tatar Decl. at ¶ 12, Exh. 5. Plaintiff’s counsel did not respond. Oppo. at 18 7; see also Singh Decl., at ¶ ¶ 11, 13. 19 On January 8, 2025, Plaintiff deposed Trans Union’s 30(b)(6) witness, Andrew Montella. 20 Id. at 8; see also Singh Decl., at ¶ 14. Afterwards, Plaintiff requested that Trans Union stipulate 21 to extending the fact discovery cut off for a second 30(b)(6) witness deposition. Id.; see also 22 Singh Decl., at ¶ 15. Trans Union declined. Id. 23 On January 9, 2025, Plaintiff’s counsel called counsel for Trans Union to meet and confer 24 regarding sanctions for Trans Union’s failure to present a witness at the 30(b)(6) deposition. Id. 25 at 8; see also Singh Decl., at ¶ 16. Trans Union argued that they had presented a witness who 26 was deposed and testified appropriately. Id. Later that day, Plaintiff’s counsel served Plaintiff’s 27 conformed Application to Amend the Scheduling Order and Plaintiff’s Request for 28 Sanctions. Id. at 9; see also Singh Decl., at ¶ 17, Exhibit J. 1 On January 13, 2025, the Court held a videoconference Mandatory Settlement 2 Conference. See ECF No. 50 in 24CV34-AJB(BLM). After the conference, the Court discussed 3 the instant dispute and informed Plaintiff’s Counsel that the appropriate motion was a motion to 4 compel and not a motion to amend the scheduling order. The Court then issued a briefing 5 schedule. ECF No. 23. In accordance with the briefing schedule, Plaintiff filed her motion on 6 January 21, 2025 and Defendant filed its opposition on January 28, 2025. MTC; see also Oppo. 7 PLAINTIFF’S POSITION 8 Plaintiff seeks an order compelling “Trans Union to designate a corporate witness for 9 testimony on sixteen topics crucial to establishing Trans Union's unreasonable and reckless 10 investigation of Plaintiff's disputes.” MTC at 7. Plaintiff argues that Trans Union failed to obtain 11 a protective order, has waived its objections, and failed to appear for its 30(b)(6) deposition by 12 sending a deponent who was inadequately prepared. Id. at 10- 21. Specifically, Plaintiff argues 13 that Trans Union’s last-minute objections to the 30(b)(6) deposition were procedurally improper 14 and do not excuse its refusal to testify. Id. at 11-12. Additionally, Trans Union’s failure to seek 15 a protective order cannot be remedied without a showing of excusable neglect which does not 16 apply here. Id. Plaintiff further argues that Trans Union’s objections to the 30(b)(6) deposition 17 were boilerplate and unsubstantiated. Id. at 12. Finally, Plaintiff argues that Trans Union’s 18 30(b)(6) witness was so unprepared for the deposition, that it constitutes a failure to appear. 19 Id. at 17. Accordingly, Plaintiff requests permission to file a motion for sanctions in the event 20 the Court grants the instant motion. Id. at 22-23. 21 TRANS UNION’S POSITION 22 Trans Union contends that Plaintiff's motion should be denied because even after 23 Plaintiff's refusal to meet and confer regarding deposition topics prior to the deposition, "Trans 24 Union properly produced and Plaintiff’s counsel deposed Trans Union’s 30(b)(6) witness for 25 approximately 6 hours." Oppo. at 6. Additionally, Plaintiff refused to meet and confer prior to 26 filing the instant motion as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (“Fed. R. Civ. P.”) 30 and 27 failed to include a statement pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 37 that Plaintiff’s counsel meaningfully 28 conferred about the disputes raised in the instant motion. Id. at 6, 10. Trans Union notes that 1 it presented a 30(b)(6) witness who testified on all of the non-objectionable topics, it timely 2 served its objections to the Notice of Deposition but instead of responding, Plaintiff opted to go 3 forward with the deposition, and that the instant motion is Plaintiff’s attempt to compensate for 4 her lack of diligence as she had ample time “to obtain discoverable information through written 5 discovery but failed to do so.” Id. at 10-11. 6 Trans Union also contends that it has not waived its objections and was “not required to 7 prepare a detailed privilege log until the parties [] conferred and the court [] ruled on Trans 8 Union’s objections to Plaintiff’s Requests. Id. at 12. Finally, Trans Union contends that Plaintiff’s 9 request for sanctions is not warranted. Id. at 20-21. Trans Union seeks permission to file a 10 motion for sanctions if Plaintiff’s motion is denied. Id. at 21-22. Trans Union also seeks a 11 protective order pursuant to Rule 26(c) as to deposition Topics 10, 13-17, and 23-26. Id. at 2212 23. 13 LEGAL STANDARD 14 The scope of discovery under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure is defined as follows: 15 Parties may obtain discovery regarding any nonprivileged matter that is relevant 16 to any party’s claim or defense and proportional to the needs of the case, considering the importance of the issues at stake in the action, the amount in 17 controversy, the parties’ relative access to relevant information, the parties’ resources, the importance of the discovery in resolving the issues, and whether [18] the burden or expense of the proposed discovery outweighs its likely benefit. 19 Information within this scope of discovery need not be admissible in evidence to be discoverable. [20] 21 Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1). 22 District courts have broad discretion to determine relevancy for discovery purposes. See 23 Hallett v. Morgan, 296 F.3d 732, 751 (9th Cir. 2002). District courts also have broad discretion 24 to limit discovery to prevent its abuse. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(2)(c)(i-iii)(instructing that 25 courts must limit discovery where the party seeking the discovery “has had ample opportunity 26 to obtain the information by discovery in the action” or where the proposed discovery is 27 “unreasonably cumulative or duplicative,” “obtain[able] from some other source that is more [28] 1 convenient, less burdensome, or less expensive,” or where it “is outside the scope permitted by 2 Rule 26(b)(1)”). 3 Depositions 4 Fed. R. Civ. P. 30(a)(1) provides that “[a] party may, by oral questions, depose any 5 person, including a party, without leave of court except as provided in Rule 30(a)(2).1” Fed. R. 6 Civ. P. 30(a)(6) requires that a notice or subpoena directed towards an organization “describe 7 with reasonable particularity the matters for examination” and “set out the matters on which 8 each person designated will testify.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 30(a)(6) also requires that the organization 9 “designate one or more officers, directors, or managing agents, or designate other persons who 10 consent to testify on its behalf” and that “the serving party and the organization must confer in 11 good faith about the matters for examination.” “The persons designated must testify about 12 information known or reasonably available to the organization.” Id. 13 DISCUSSION 14 A. Meet & Confer 15 Trans Union contends that Plaintiff fails to address the fact that she failed to meet and 16 confer before seeking court intervention as required by Fed. R. Civ. P. 30(b)(6). Oppo. at 10. 17 This is evidenced by Plaintiff’s failure to include a statement confirming that the parties met and 18 conferred in good faith as required by Fed. R. Civ. P. 37. Id. at n1. [21] 1 Fed. R. Civ. P. 30(a)(2) states that “[a] party must obtain leave of court, and the court must 22 grant leave to the extent consistent with Rule 26(b)(1) and (2): (A) if the parties have not stipulated to the deposition and: (i) the deposition would result in more than 10 depositions [23] being taken under this rule or Rule 31 by the plaintiffs, or by the defendants, or by the third24 party defendants; (ii) the deponent has already been deposed in the case; or (iii) the party seeks 25 to take the deposition before the time specified in Rule 26(d), unless the party certifies in the notice, with supporting facts, that the deponent is expected to leave the United States and be [26] unavailable for examination in this country after that time; or (B) if the deponent is confined in [27] prison.” [28] 1 Plaintiff argues that Trans Union’s decision to wait until January 6, 2025, two days before 2 the deposition to serve objections when it was aware of the deposition topics on November 14, 3 2024 did not leave the parties sufficient time to meet and confer. MTC at 8. 4 Fed. Civ. P. 30(b)(6) states that “[b]efore or promptly after the notice or subpoena is 5 served, the serving party and the organization must confer in good faith about the matters for 6 examination.” Plaintiff served a new Notice of Trans Union’s 30(b)(6) deposition on November 7 19, 2024. Oppo. at 7. The notice contained 26 deposition topics. Id. Forty-eight days later, 8 two days before the deposition, on January 6, 2025, Trans Union served its objections to the 9 deposition topics and requested a meet and confer. Id. at 7-8; Singh Decl. at ¶ 13. Plaintiff’s 10 counsel did not respond. Id. While the parties failed to meet and confer prior to the deposition 11 as required Fed. R. Civ. P. 30(b)(6), the Court finds that this is not a sufficient reason for denying 12 Plaintiff’s motion. Trans Union provides no explanation for waiting until the last minute to serve 13 its objections to the deposition topics and requesting a meet and confer. Contrary to Trans 14 Union’s statement that “Plaintiff’s Motion fails to address a threshold issue: the parties must 15 meet and confer in good faith prior to seeking court intervention[,]” Plaintiff did address the 16 issue by stating that due to the timing of Trans Union’s request, “time did not permit to confer 17 on such short notice.” Oppo. at 10; MTC at 8. The Court will not reward Trans Union’s lack of 18 diligence in objecting and seeking a meet and confer by denying Plaintiff’s motion on this ground. 19 Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(a)(1) states that “[o]n notice to other parties and all affected persons, 20 a party may move for an order compelling disclosure or discovery. The motion must include a 21 certification that the movant has in good faith conferred or attempted to confer with the person 22 or party failing to make disclosure or discovery in an effort to obtain it without court action.” 23 The instant motion does not include the required certification, however, during the deposition 24 on January 8, 2025, the parties met and conferred on the record. MTC at 10; Tatar Decl. at ¶ 25 20. Trans Union states that the meet and confer only addressed a potential stipulation to extend 26 the discovery cutoff that Trans Union rejected due to its objections to the deposition topics. 27 Opp. at 8; Singh Decl. at ¶ 15. Plaintiff states that the meet and confer addressed Trans Union’s 28 failure to obtain a protective order and the potential stipulation to extend the discovery cutoff. 1 Tatar Decl. at ¶¶ 20-22. Accordingly, the Court will not reject the instant motion for its lack of 2 a meet and confer certification. 3 B. Trans Union’s Objections 4 Plaintiff argues that Trans Union has waived its objections to the deposition topics at 5 issue. MTC at 12- 17. Plaintiff argues that Trans Union’s objections were boilerplate and 6 unsubstantiated and that without additional explanation or specificity, the objections are waived. 7 Id. at 12-13. Plaintiff notes that Trans Union’s behavior appears to be an attempt to “conceal[] 8 relevant information while running out the discovery clock.” Id. at 13. 9 Trans Union contends that it has not waived its objections because Plaintiff did not 10 attempt to meet and confer prior to filing the instant motion. Oppo. at 12. 11 As an initial matter, the Court notes that Trans Union’s objections to the discovery topics 12 were procedurally improper. See Cancino Castellar v. McAleenan, 2020 WL 1332485 , at *3 (S.D. 13 Cal., Mar. 23, 2020) (The “proper procedure to object to a Rule 30(b)(6) deposition notice is not 14 to serve objections on the opposing party, but to move for a protective order[,]”) (quoting 15 Rembrandt Diagnostics, LP v. Innovacon, Inc., 2018 WL 692259 , at *3 (S.D. Cal. Feb. 2, 2018) 16 (“A corporate deponent cannot simply make ‘objections and then provide a witness that will 17 testify only within the scope of its objections. Unlike the procedure with respect to 18 interrogatories, requests for production of documents and requests for admissions, there is no 19 provision in the rules which provides for a party whose deposition is noticed to serve objections 20 so as to be able to avoid providing the requested discovery until an order compelling discovery 21 is issued.’”) (quoting Beach Mart, Inc. v. L & L Wings, Inc., 302 F.R.D. 396, 406 (E.D.N.C. 2014) 22 and New England Carpenters Health Benefits Fund v. First Databank, Inc., 242 F.R.D. 164 , 16523 66 (D. Mass. 2007)). Trans Union failed to move for a protective order prior to the deposition 24 and, instead, served objections two days before the deposition. Singh Decl. at ¶ 11. Given the 25 facts, including that the parties failed to meet and confer regarding Trans Union’s objections 26 and Plaintiff deposed the Rule 30(b)(6) witness at length, the Court declines to find that Trans 27 Union has waived its objections. 28 /// 1 1. Topic 10 2 Topic 10 is “[t]he costs or expenses incurred by You in conducting each investigation into 3 any dispute made by Plaintiff.” Sing Decl. at Exh. H. Trans Union objected to the topic 4 on the grounds that it is overbroad and unlimited in time. FED. R. CIV. P.26(b)(1). This Topic seeks information beyond the scope of the claims and [5] defenses in this case. Furthermore, this Topic does not identify the subject 6 matter with reasonable particularity and could involve many different subject matters. FED. R. CIV. P. 30. Moreover, requiring Trans Union to retrieve, review, 7 and produce the information requested would impose undue burden and expense on Trans Union, overwhelm Trans Union’s resources, and far outweigh [8] any possible benefit. FED. R. CIV. P. 26(c)(1). Trans Union also objects to 9 providing information that constitutes confidential, proprietary, and trade secret information of Trans Union and third parties. FED. R. CIV. P. 26(c). Trans Union 10 objects to this Topic on the grounds that the information sought is subject to the joint defense, work product, and attorney-client privileges. FED. R. EVID. [11] 502. [13] Id. Plaintiff argues that this topic is relevant to potential punitive damages and that Trans Union 14 has failed to meet its burden of demonstrating how this topic is unduly burdensome or 15 expensive. MTC at 13. Plaintiff notes there is a protective order in place which should alleviate 16 Trans Union’s objections regarding confidentiality or the proprietary nature of the information. 17 Id. at 13-14. Finally, Plaintiff argues that Trans Union’s objections based on privilege are unclear 18 given that Trans Union has yet to produce a privilege log as required by Fed. R. Civ. P. 19 26(b)(5)(A). Id. at 14. 20 Trans Union contends that it “does not track costs or expenses incurred in conducting 21 each investigation” and that Mr. Montella testified that investigators are not paid for each 22 dispute. Oppo. at 13. Trans Union further contends that Plaintiff has not shown that the Topic 23 is relevant to Plaintiff’s claim and that Plaintiff’s questions should be directed towards 24 Teleperformance f/k/a Intelenet Global Services Private Ltd., “a non-party, foreign entity [] 25 vendor hired by Trans Union to process credit disputes.” Id. Teleperformance is located in 26 India and unaffiliated with Trans Union and the information Plaintiff seeks is within the custody 27 and control of Teleperformance and not Trans Union as testified to by Mr. Montella. Id. [28] 1 Trans Union’s objections to Topic 10 are SUSTAINED IN PART and OVERRULED IN 2 PART. Mr. Montella testified that Trans Union uses a customer relations department located in 3 Mumbai, India called Teleperformance f/k/a Intelenet. Tatar Decl. at Exh. 6 at 5. He further 4 testified that Intelenet dispute agents are not paid per dispute and that Intelenet is its own 5 entity separate from Trans Union. Id. at 8. When Plaintiff’s counsel asked Mr. Montella if he 6 was prepared to discuss Topic 10, “[c]osts or expenses incurred by TransUnion in conducting 7 each investigation[,]” Mr. Montella responded “no.” Tatar Decl. at Exh. 6, 19. 8 Trans Union is ORDERED to produce a 30(b)(6) witness to discuss the costs and 9 expenses incurred by Trans Union to have Intelenet perform the relevant investigations. Given 10 that (1) Trans Union and Mr. Montella have stated that Teleperformance/Intelenet is a separate 11 entity that Trans Union uses to conduct investigations, (2) Mr. Montella testified that he did not 12 know the inner workings of Intelenet, and (3) Trans Union has stated that Teleperformance and 13 its employees have knowledge about the services provided by Teleperformance to Trans Union 14 and that individual Teleperformance Operators processed the related dispute(s) received by 15 Trans Union, the 30(b)(6) witness is not expected or required to testify as to the inner workings 16 of Teleperformance2. Tatar Decl. at Exh. at 6, 19; see also Oppo. at 13, Singh Decl. at Exh. L 17 (Trans Union’s First Supplemental Rule 26(a)(1) Initial Disclosures). The 30(b)(6) witness is 18 required to testify about the costs incurred by Trans Union to conduct or have conducted the 19 relevant investigation, including for example, the amount of money paid by Trans Union to 20 Teleperformance. Because Mr. Montella was not prepared to testify on this topic as to Trans 21 Union’s costs or expenses, Trans Union must prepare and produce a new 30(b)(6) witness. 22 /// 23 /// [24] 2 Including but not limited to the operating hours of Intelenet, how much the Intelenet agents 25 are paid per hour, whether the agents are hourly, salaried, paid weekly or monthly, whether the agents receive incentives or bonuses to complete a certain number of disputes (except from [26] Trans Union), number of dispute agents employed in India, number of supervisors employed in 27 India, whether the dispute agents are employees or contractors, names of current employees of Intelenet, or disciplinary actions taken against Intelenet dispute agents or terminations. [28] 1 2. Topics 13-15 2 Topic 13 is “[t]he names and contact information of all of the fraud and/or identity theft 3 department manager(s), assistants, and other person(s) responsible for creating, reviewing, 4 conducting training on, inspecting, and implementing the fraud and identity theft related policies 5 and practices of Defendant.” Singh Decl. at Exh. H. Topic 14 is “[t]he names and contact 6 information of all of fraud and/or identity theft department manager(s), assistants, and other 7 person(s) responsible for creating, reviewing, conducting training on, inspecting, and 8 implementing the debtor identification and verification policies and practices of Defendant.” Id. 9 Topic 15 is “[t]he names and contact information of all of Defendant’s employees and other 10 person(s) who communicated with Plaintiff or anyone posing as Plaintiff, in writing, verbally, or 11 otherwise, regarding the tradelines or accounts at issue.” Id. Trans Union’s objected to Topics 12 13-15 13 on the grounds that [they are] overbroad and unlimited in time. FED. R. CIV. P.26(b)(1). Th[ese] Topic[s] seek[] information beyond the scope of the claims [14] and defenses in this case. Furthermore, th[ese] Topic[s] do[] not identify the 15 subject matter with reasonable particularity and could involve many different subject matters. FED. R. CIV. P. 30. Moreover, requiring Trans Union to retrieve, 16 review, and produce the information requested would impose undue burden and expense on Trans Union, overwhelm Trans Union’s resources, and far [17] outweigh any possible benefit. FED. R. CIV. P. 26(c)(1). Trans Union also 18 objects to providing information that constitutes confidential, proprietary, and trade secret information of Trans Union and third parties. FED. R. CIV. P. 26(c). 19 Trans Union objects to th[ese] Topic[s] on the grounds that the information sought is subject to the joint defense, work product, and attorney-client [20] privileges. FED. R. EVID. 502. [21] 22 Id. Plaintiff argues that these topics are relevant because the individuals may have information 23 that speaks to whether dispute agents are properly trained to handle FCRA disputes and that 24 Trans Union’s overbroad objection is unfounded. MTC at 14. However, Plaintiff notes that she 25 “is amenable to limiting the timeframe for these topics to 2018-2024.” Id. 26 Trans Union contends that “Plaintiff’s Motion fails to address the relevancy or necessity 27 of contact information of individuals responsible for training on identity theft.” Oppo. at 14. 28 This is especially concerning here, where Plaintiff has not brought a negligent training claim. Id. 1 Trans Union produced written discovery on its policies and procedures surrounding consumer 2 disputes and identity theft. Id. Mr. Montella also testified about Trans Union’s training 3 procedures specific to identity theft. Id. Plaintiff’s counsel did not ask Mr. Montella for the 4 contact information for individuals responsible for creating, implementing, and training on 5 identity theft. Id.; see also Singh Decl. at ¶ 20. Trans Union notes that Plaintiff cites to Fed. R. 6 Civ. P. 26(a)(i) for support which is “improper and meritless.” Oppo. at 14. 7 Trans Union’s objections to topics 13-14 are SUSTAINED. Topics 13 and 14 are 8 overbroad as written. The topics contain no time frame, fraud encompasses many different 9 types of interactions or situations that are not relevant to the instant dispute, and the group of 10 individuals described in the topics is also overbroad. Even considering Plaintiff’s willingness to 11 limit the timeframe for these topics to 2018-2024, the Court finds the requests overbroad. 12 Trans Union’s objections to Topic 15 are SUSTAINED IN PART AND OVERRULED IN 13 PART. Topic 15 as written is overbroad and will be limited so as to only include Trans Union’s 14 employees and not “other person(s).” Accordingly, Trans Union must produce a 30(b)(6) 15 witness prepared to testify about the “names and contact information of all of Defendant’s 16 employees [] who communicated with Plaintiff or anyone posing as Plaintiff, in writing, verbally, 17 or otherwise, regarding the tradelines or accounts at issue” or provide the requested information 18 in a declaration signed under penalty of perjury. If Trans Union wants to provide the requested 19 information via declaration, it must provide the declaration to Plaintiff by March 14, 2025. 20 3. Topics 16-17 21 Topic 16 is “[a]ll of the oral and written training provided to employees of Defendant 22 from 2017 through the present regarding Defendant’s policies, procedures, methods, 23 techniques, tactics, rules, and regulations regarding fraud/identity theft.” Singh Decl. at Exh. 24 H. Topic 17 is “[a]ll of the oral and written training provided to employees of Defendant from 25 2017 through the present regarding state and federal laws regarding credit reporting and 26 fraud/identity theft.” Id. Trans Union objects to Topics 16-17 27 on the grounds that [they are] overbroad and unlimited in time. FED. R. CIV. P.26(b)(1). Th[ese] Topic[s] seek[] information beyond the scope of the claims [28] 1 asunbdj edcetf emnastetse ri nw tihthis rceaasseo.n Faubrleth peramrtoicruel,a rtihty[e asen]d Tcoopuilcd[ si]n vdool[v]e nmota nidye ndtififfye rtehnet 2 subject matters. FED. R. CIV. P. 30. Moreover, requiring Trans Union to retrieve, review, and produce the information requested would impose undue burden 3 and expense on Trans Union, overwhelm Trans Union’s resources, and far outweigh any possible benefit. FED. R. CIV. P. 26(c)(1). Trans Union also [4] objects to providing information that constitutes confidential, proprietary, and 5 trade secret information of Trans Union and third parties. FED. R. CIV. P. 26(c). Trans Union objects to th[ese] Topic[s] on the grounds that the information 6 sought is subject to the joint defense, work product, and attorney-client privileges. FED. R. EVID. 502. [7] 8 Id. Plaintiff argues that Trans Union improperly objects to Topics 16-17 as the topics are highly 9 relevant to both Plaintiff’s claims and Trans Union’s affirmative defenses, specifically 10 “reasonableness and recklessness” and Plaintiff’s claim that “Trans Union negligently and willfully 11 violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the California Credit Reporting Agencies Act.” MTC at 12 15. Plaintiff notes that “Trans Union has put this topic at issue by asserting its policies and 13 procedures were adequate.” Id. 14 Trans Union contends that “Topic 16-17 are overly broad, not defined with reasonable 15 particularity, and beyond the scope of Plaintiff’s claims and defenses.” Oppo. at 16. Trans 16 Union notes that Mr. Montella testified about Trans Union’s training procedures implemented on 17 identity theft but was asked questions about information outside of Trans Union’s custody and 18 control with respect to the training of individuals employed by Teleperformance. Id. Trans 19 Union contends that this is something that could have been addressed with a meaningful meet 20 and confer. Id. Trans Union notes that it produced written discovery responses regarding 21 “Trans Union’s training provided to its employees regarding fraud, identity theft and credit 22 reporting with respect to deposition topics 16 and 17” and that Plaintiff’s counsel did not ask Mr. 23 Montella any questions regarding those documents. Id. 24 Trans Union’s objections to Topics 16-17 are OVERRULED. Initially, the Court notes 25 that the language of Topics 16 and 17 is limited to Defendant’s employees and, therefore, any 26 questions regarding Teleperformance f/k/a Intelenet are not permitted. Second, the Court finds 27 that the requested time frame is overbroad. The Court limits the time frame for Topics 16 and 28 17 to January 2019 (the year Plaintiff alleges that fraudulent activity began [see ECF No. 1 at 5; 1 |}see also Tatar Decl. at Exh 6 at 18]) through December 2023 (days before this lawsuit was 2 ||filed). Finally, the Court notes that while Mr. Montella testified about his own training 3 experiences, he was not able to testify consistently as a corporate representative. The 4 exchanges with Plaintiffs counsel during the deposition regarding identity theft and training 5 || included the following: 6 Q: - Can you tell me how -- in what ways is TransUnion generally speaking -- 7 in what ways does TransUnion get notified that a consumer believes he or she is a victim of identity theft? - A- Well, that would come from the consumer. 8 The consumer would initiate something either via a telephone call.- If they still wish to send us mail, they have the opportunity to do that. Or they can dispute 9 online. They will be the ones to tell us, I believe there was fraud. 10 Q: - Okay.* Will TransUnion only receive carbon copies where another credit il reporting agency believes a tradeline is affected by identity theft? - A- - No. MS. [ae [14] es [22] ees [24] (| _ a 26 Eee [12] 13 out. Now what happens after that fact, | dont know. Because I don't know 14 anybody who's not completed those trainings. 15 Q : Do the dispute agents get training in how to or what the different types of identity thefts are? - A - Yes. 16 Q: - How often do they receive that type of training? - That I don't know. 17 Q: - Who would have that information. - A: - Consumer relations. [5] 6 || Tatar Decl. at Exh. 6. Mr. Montella’s limited capabilities to testify as a 30(b)(6) witness on these 7 ||topics are underscored by the fact that he testified that he was not prepared to discuss Topics 8 ||16 and 17. Tatar Decl. at Exh. 6 at 19. Accordingly, Defendant must provide a new 30(b)(6) 9 || witness to testify about Topics 16 and 17. 10 4. Topics 23-26 11 Topic 23 is “[a]ny and all complaints and allegations, including, but not limited to, 12 || lawsuits, demand letters, Better Business Bureau, State Licensing Agency, Yelp! reviews, Google 13 || reviews, any online review forum against Defendant for violation of credit reporting laws and/or 14 || fraud and identity theft laws in the preceding 36 months.” Singh Decl. at Exh. H. Topic 24 is 15 ||“[alll lawsuits instituted against You based on alleged violations of the CCRAA Cal. Civ. Code 16 ||§1785 et seq., and Fair Credit Reporting Act 15 U.S.C. §1681 during the 5 years prior to the 17 || filing of the Complaint.” Id. Topic 25 is “[a]ll studies, audits, quality control analyses, or other 18 || investigations that You conducted regarding the frequency of identity theft disputes over the 19 ||previous 5 years.” Id. Topic 26 is “[alll studies, audits, quality control analyses, or other 20 || investigations that You conducted regarding the frequency of identity theft disputes involving 21 || Wells Fargo, N.A. over the previous 5 years. Id. Trans Union objects to Topics 23-26 22 on the grounds that [they are] overbroad and unlimited in time. FED. R. CIV. 3 P.26(b)(1). These] Topic[s] seek[] information beyond the scope of the claims and defenses in this case. Furthermore, th[ese] Topic[s] do[] not identify the 24 subject matter with reasonable particularity and could involve many different subject matters. FED. R. CIV. P. 30. Moreover, requiring Trans Union to retrieve, review, and produce the information requested would impose undue burden and expense on Trans Union, overwhelm Trans Union's resources, and far outweigh any possible benefit. FED. R. CIV. P. 26(c)(1). Trans Union also 27 objects to providing information that constitutes confidential, proprietary, and trade secret information of Trans Union and third parties. FED. R. CIV. P. 26(c). 28 Trans Union objects to th[ese] Topic[s] on the grounds that the information [15] 1 sporiuvgilhegt eiss. FsEuDbj.e Rct. EtVoI Dth. e5 0j2o.i n t defense, work product, and attorney-client [3] Id. Plaintiff argues that Trans Union has been ordered to produce this information in other cases 4 and that the information is relevant to Plaintiff’s “§1681i reinvestigation claim and willfulness.” 5 MTC at 15. Plaintiff notes that Trans Union’s knowledge of other lawsuits shows that Trans 6 Union knew Wells Fargo was not a reliable source of information and that Trans Union acted 7 recklessly in its investigation. Id. at 16. Plaintiff further argues that these objections are not 8 supported by evidence specifying the undue burden or expense Trans Union claims. Id. at 169 17. 10 Trans Union contends that Plaintiff is relying on Fed. R. Civ. P. 26 for her position which 11 is specific to written discovery, not 30(b)(6) deposition topics. Oppo. at 17. Trans Union further 12 contends that the topics are overbroad and “should not be discoverable as each lawsuit is unique 13 in that they all are based on their own set of facts and circumstances.” Id. at 18. Trans Union 14 contends the topics are overbroad as to scope and time. Id. Additionally, much of the 15 information Plaintiff is seeking in Topic 23 is publicly available and not proportional to the needs 16 of the case. Id. at 19. 17 Trans Union’s objections to Topic 23 are SUSTAINED. Topic 23 is overbroad and seeks 18 irrelevant or minimally relevant information (such as allegations in online review forums) that is 19 not proportional to the needs of this case. 20 Trans Union’s objections to Topic 24 are OVERRULED, however, Topic 24 is limited to 21 the time period between January 2019 and December 2023. Topic 24 is also limited to lawsuits 22 served on Trans Union. Accordingly, Trans Union must produce a 30(b)(6) witness prepared to 23 testify about all lawsuits served on You against You based on alleged violations of the CCRAA [24] Cal. Civ. Code §1785 et seq., and Fair Credit Reporting Act 15 U.S.C. §1681 from January 2019 25 through December 2023 or provide the requested information in a declaration signed under 26 penalty of perjury. If Trans Union wants to provide the information by declaration, it must 27 provide the declaration to Plaintiff by March 14, 2025. [28] 1 Trans Union’s objections to Topics 25 and 26 are SUSTAINED. The requests as written 2 are overbroad and not proportional to the claims in this case. This is not a class action case; it 3 is an individual claim. The requests seek a broad array of types of studies or investigations and 4 are focused on “frequency” of disputes, rather than focusing on facts of this case. The requests 5 are not proportional because they seek to obtain information about studies, audits, analyses and 6 investigations rather than, for example, the number of identity theft disputes (similar to Topic 7 24 which seeks number and identity of lawsuits). Also, while Plaintiff’s brief explains why the 8 lawsuits are relevant, she does not explain why the array of studies, audits, analyses and 9 investigations are relevant. 10 Protective Order 11 Trans Union seeks a protective order pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c) with respect to 12 deposition Topics 10, 13-17, and 23-26. Oppo. at 22. Trans Union contends that the deposition 13 topics are “improper attempts to shoehorn interrogatories and requests for production into a 14 deposition” and “beyond the scope of the claims and defenses in this case and do not identify 15 the subject matter.” Id. at 23. Trans Union requests that Plaintiff’s motion be denied, and it 16 not be required to produce a second 30(b)(6) witness. Id. 17 Plaintiff argues that Trans Union’s failure to seek a protective order previously cannot be 18 rectified. MTC at 12. For the Court to grant a protective order, Trans Union would have to 19 demonstrate excusable neglect since the time proper for requesting a protective order has 20 passed, and Trans Union is unable to do so. Id. 21 Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c)(1) allows a party to “move for a protective order . . . . on matters 22 relating to a deposition, in the court for the district where the deposition will be taken.” Where 23 good cause is shown, the court may “issue an order to protect a party or person from annoyance, 24 embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden or expense.” Id. If the motion for a protective 25 order is denied in whole or part, the court may order that the discovery be provided. Fed. R. 26 Civ. P. 26(c)(2). 27 In reviewing Trans Union’s objections to the various deposition topics, the Court has 28 considered Trans Union’s request for a protective order. While the Court understands Plaintiff’s 1 position, the Court does not find that request to be untimely because Trans Union appeared for 2 the January 8, 2025 deposition and is now seeking a protective order to prevent a continuation 3 of that 30(b)(6) deposition. In accordance with the discussion above, Trans Union’s request for 4 a protective order is GRANTED as to Topics 13, 14, 23, 25, and 26. 5 Failure to Appear & Sanctions 6 Plaintiff argues that Trans Union’s inadequate preparation of its 30(b)(6) witness 7 constitutes a failure to appear. MTC. at 17. Mr. Montella was unable to answer numerous 8 questions for which he was the designated witness. Id. Mr. Montella responded “I don’t know” 9 to several questions related to Topics 1-2 and 6-9 which covered the factual basis for Trans 10 Union's affirmative defenses, Trans Union's policies, procedures, methods, techniques and rules 11 regarding investigations, Trans Union's communications regarding the Wells Fargo accounts, 12 and Trans Union's investigation into Plaintiff's disputes. Id. at 17-21; see also Tatar Decl. at 13 Exh. 6. Considering Trans Union’s unprepared 30(b)(6) deponent and boilerplate objections, 14 Plaintiff argues that Trans Union cannot justify its behavior and that she should be permitted to 15 file a motion for sanctions if her motion to compel is granted. MTC at 21. Specifically, Trans 16 Union’s behavior has increased costs and delayed discovery and warrants compelled testimony 17 and monetary sanctions. Id. 18 Trans Union contends that Plaintiff is not entitled to sanctions given that Plaintiff failed 19 to meet and confer, Plaintiff waited until the end of the discovery period to conduct the 30(b)(6) 20 deposition, Plaintiff sought to amend the scheduling order for a second deposition on an 21 basis, Trans Union did not act improperly, Trans Union produced a 30(b)(6) witness who 22 was adequately prepared and deposed for six hours despite Trans Union’s written objections, 23 and Plaintiff’s counsel failed to meet and confer prior to the deposition despite knowing that 24 Trans Union objected to some of the noticed topics. Oppo. at 20-21. Trans Union further 25 contends that it is entitled to recover attorney’s fees if the Court denies Plaintiff’s motion as 26 Plaintiff’s motion and request for sanctions “is an attempt to mislead the Court as to Plaintiff’s 27 claims and the deposition testimony provided by Mr. Montella” and “a tactic designed to gain 28 settlement advantage and exploit the discovery process, all while failing to meaningfully meet 1 and confer prior to filing the Motion.” Oppo. at 20-22. 2 If a motion to compel discovery is granted, Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(a)(5)(A) requires a court to 3 order the “party or deponent whose conduct necessitated the motion, the party or attorney 4 advising that conduct, or both to pay the movant’s reasonable expenses incurred in making the 5 motion, including attorney’s fees” unless the movant failed to meet and confer, the objection 6 was substantially justified, or other circumstances militate against awarding expenses. See 7 Brown v. Hain Celestial Group, Inc., 2013 WL 5800566 , *5 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 28, 2013) (“[t]he 8 party that loses the motion to compel bears the affirmative burden of demonstrating that its 9 position was substantially justified”) (internal citations omitted). If a motion to compel is denied, 10 the court must, after giving an opportunity to be heard, require the movant, the attorney filing 11 the motion, or both to pay the party or deponent who opposed the motion its reasonable 12 expenses incurred in opposing the motion, including attorney's fees unless the motion was 13 substantially justified or other circumstances make an award of expenses unjust. Fed. R. Civ. 14 P. 37 (a)(5)(B). If a motion to compel discovery is granted in part and denied in part, the court 15 may issue any protective order authorized under Rule 26(c) and may, after giving an opportunity 16 to be heard, apportion the reasonable expenses for the motion. Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(a)(5)(C). 17 Fed. R. Civ. P. 30(d)(2) provides that a court “may impose an appropriate sanction - 18 including the reasonable expenses and attorney’s fees incurred by any party - on a person who 19 impedes, delays, or frustrates the fair examination of the deponent.” Bicek v. C & S Wholesale 20 Grocers, Inc., 2013 WL 5673418 , *6-8 (E.D. Cal. Oct. 17, 2013) (finding sanctions appropriate 21 under both Rules 30 and 37 as a result of counsel’s delaying, impeding and frustrating 22 depositions, and for causing opposing counsel to seek the court’s intervention to resolve the 23 dispute). “To determine if sanctions are warranted under Rule 30, the court's inquiry is twofold. 24 First, the court must determine whether a person's behavior has impeded, delayed, or frustrated 25 the fair examination of the deponent.” Lucas v. Breg, Inc., 2016 WL 2996843 , at *2 (S.D. Cal. 26 May 13, 2016) (quoting Dunn v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 2013 WL 5940099 (D. Nev. Nov. 1, 27 2013), citing Fed. R. Civ. P. 30(d)(2)). Second, the Court must determine an appropriate 28 sanction. Id. “The Ninth Circuit provides District Courts with wide discretion to fashion 1 || appropriate sanctions for discovery violations under the Federal Rules.” Brady v. Grendene USA, [2] 2015 WL 5177760 , at *2 (S.D. Cal. Sept. 4, 2015) (citing Yeti by Molly, Ltd. v. Deckers 3 || Qutdoor Corp., 259 F.3d 1101 , 1106 (9th Cir. 2001)). ~ Both Plaintiff and Trans Union’s request to file a motion for sanctions is DENIED. 5 || Plaintiff's motion is being granted in part and denied in part and both parties have taken actions 6 making the motion and the opposition substantially justified and such that an award of sanctions 7 would be unjust. 8 Plaintiff also seeks an order requiring Trans Union to designate and prepare a witness to 9 || testify on Topics 1-2, 6-7, and 9. MTC at 18-21. Topic No. 1 addresses “[t]he factual basis of 10 || each affirmative defenses that You pled as to Plaintiff's claims.” Singh Decl. at Exh. H. Trans 11 Union's affirmative defenses include compliance with its reasonable policies and procedures, 12 ||compliance with the FRCA and the CCRAA, the statute of limitations, failure to act with 13 negligence, malice, or willful intent to injure, and Plaintiff’s failure to mitigate damages. ECF 14 ||No. 8 at 14-15. Plaintiff cites to several excerpts from the deposition transcript in support of 15 || her position that Mr. Montella was unprepared to answer questions related to Topic 1 [see MTC 16 || at 19] including the following: 17 Q: - How does TransUnion ensure that a dispute agent has actually reviewed 18 all of the documents that a consumer sends over? A: - Besides QA, as far as, I mean, I don't believe, again, I don't know because I don't know if they're 19 counting keystrokes or watching somebody's screens, but it comes out in QA. | aii: [21] 22 || Tatar Decl. at Exh. 6 at 11. [23] | ____eee a [5] 6 || Tatar Decl. at Exh. 6 at 13. Q: - Okay. Do the dispute agents get training on how to detect forgeries? □□ - 8 Not to my knowledge. 9 Q: - Do the dispute agents get training in how to or what the different types of ‘5 identity thefts are? A: Yes. fi Q: - How often do they receive that type of training? A: - That I don't know a Q: - Who would have that information. A- - Consumer relations. 13 || Tatar Decl. at Exh. 6 at 18. [19] 71 Q: - Who would have that information? A: - Well, we'll start going deep. So each company is assigned a, I guess, we're going to call it sales rep and an 22 analyst. I don't know who Wells was assigned but that's where I would start to 53 see if they were asked to ever improve anything on their end. 74 Q: - Okay. How many times has the plaintiff been sued, do you know? A: No, I have no idea. 2 Q: - Do you know how many times or if the plaintiff has been accused of a crime 26 involving dishonesty? A: - No, I have no idea. 27 Q- - What's the average caseload per dispute agent, do you know? A: - No. No idea. [28] 1 || Tatar Decl. at Exh. 6 at 17. 2 ee [5] 6 || Tatar Decl. at Exh. 6 at 8. ’ ee [10] 4 EEE [12] | [14] 15 || Tatar Decl. at Exh. 6 at 7. [5] a Tatar Decl. at Exh. 6 at 14. [12] 13 || Tatar Decl. at Exh. 6 at 15. [19] Tatar Decl. at Exh. 6 at 16-17. The Court finds that Mr. Montella was unable to adequately 0 respond to several questions related to Topic 1. Accordingly, Plaintiff's request for a new 30(b)(6) witness to respond to Topic 1 is GRANTED. 22 Topic No. 2 addresses “[a]ll of Defendant’s policies, procedures, methods, techniques, 3 tactics, rules, and regulations regarding investigating tradelines when a consumer claims the tradeline is the result of identity theft.” Singh Decl. at Exh. H. Topic 2 is similar to Topics 1617 (“[a]ll of the oral and written training provided to employees of Defendant from 2017 through the present regarding Defendant’s policies, procedures, methods, techniques, tactics, rules, and regulations regarding fraud/identity theft” and “[a]ll of the oral and written training provided to 1 employees of Defendant from 2017 through the present regarding state and federal laws 2 regarding credit reporting and fraud/identity theft.”) and when discussing Topic 2, Plaintiff cites 3 to the same portions of the deposition that were discussed above. See supra at 11-12. The 4 Court has already found that Mr. Montella failed to adequately prepare for his testimony on 5 Topics 16-17 and that Trans Union must provide a new 30(b)(6) witness for those topics. Id. 6 Accordingly, Plaintiff’s request for a new 30(b)(6) witness to respond to Topic 2 is GRANTED. 7 As with Topics 16-17, the witness is required to answer questions about Trans Union; and 8 questions regarding the internal policies and procedures of Teleperformance f/k/a Intelenet are 9 not permitted. 10 Topic No. 6 addresses “[a]ll communications, written, verbal, or otherwise between 11 Defendant and its staff regarding the tradelines at issue Defendant was reporting or publishing 12 about Plaintiff, including all internal notes, records, and communications.” Singh Decl. at Exh. 13 H. Topic No. 7 addresses “[a]ll communications, written, verbal, or otherwise, internally within 14 Defendant regarding the investigation(s) into dispute(s) received by Defendant from Plaintiff or 15 from a CRA regarding the account(s) at issue in this case.” Id. Plaintiff highlights two instances 16 from a six-hour deposition where Mr. Montella did not respond thoroughly to Topics 6-7. MTC. 17 at 20 (citing Depo Transcript at 49:19-50:4) and (103:5-12). In the first instance, Plaintiff’s 18 counsel asked: 19 Q· · Okay.· Since Plaintiff's filing of the lawsuit, has TransUnion blocked the two Wells Fargo accounts from her credit reports? A· · They are currently not on [20] the file. [21] Q· · Were they suppressed? A· · They were suppressed. [22] Q· · Why were they suppressed? A· · I don't recall off the top of my head. But 23 they are no longer on file. I apologize for my faulty memory, but I know they are no longer there, but they were suppressed. [24] 25 Tatar Decl. at Exh. 6 at 3-4. Plaintiff’s counsel asked follow-up questions and Mr. Montella 26 responded and testified that (1) the accounts will not “pop back up on” Plaintiff’s credit report 27 if she loses the instant matter, (2) the decision to suppress the Wells Fargo accounts was a 28 business decision by Trans Union, not Wells Fargo, (3) if it had been a decision by Wells Fargo, 1 Montella would have expected “to see an AUD or some sort of update transmitted or 2 ||communicated from Wells Fargo to TransUnion[,]” (4) “to the best of [his] knowledge, and 3 forgive me if I am wrong, [Wells Fargo] never told us to remove it[,]” and (5) Wells Fargo 4 || answered the ACDV and updated it in such a way that it passed Trans Union's system.” Id. In 5 || the second instance, Plaintiff's counsel asked: [9] 10 || Tatar Decl. at Exh. 6 at 16. Mr. Montella then responded to Plaintiff’s counsel’s follow-up 11 || questions regarding the ACVD and Wells Fargo by testifying that (1) to his knowledge, Trans 12 || Union does not ask its furnishers what they do to investigate the ACDVs that it sends to Trans 13 || Union, (2) that he could only speak for himself personally with respect to whether Trans Union 14 || audits ACDV responded from its furnishers, (3) he did not know what Wells Fargo does during 15 || their investigation process, and (4) he was unaware of the number of lawsuits filed against Wells 16 || Fargo where the plaintiff accused Wells Fargo of reporting inaccurate information due to identity 17 ||theft. Id. In addition, unlike some of the other topics, Mr. Montella testified that he was 18 || prepared and ready to testify on Topics 6 and 7. Tatar Decl. at Exh. 6 at 19 ("Q: - Okay. Number 19 ||6, communications, et cetera, regarding the tradelines at issue that Defendant was reporting, 20 || including internal notes, records and communications? A: * Yes. Q- - Number 7, communications 21 regarding investigations into disputes received by the defendant from the plaintiff or from a 22 || credit reporting agency? A- - Yes.”). 23 Plaintiff's request for a new 30(b)(6) witness to respond to Topics 6-7 is DENIED. While 24 ||Mr. Montella was unable to answer whether Plaintiff's dispute was reviewed by a human being, 25 || he responded that the review did occur and answered Plaintiff's counsel’s follow-up questions. 26 □□□ at Exh. 6 at 16. Additionally, the Court understands that Plaintiff may use Trans Union’s lack 27 knowledge regarding Wells Fargo’s investigation process, or the number of lawsuits filed 28 || against Wells Fargo to try and support her position that Trans Union did not know that Wells [35] 1 |}Fargo conducted its investigation reasonably and should not have relied on Wells Fargo, 2 however, Mr. Montella’s inability to answer questions about the internal procedures at Wells 3 || Fargo and the number of lawsuits filed against Wells Fargo is not support for the position that 4 ||Mr. Montella was unprepared to testify about Topics 6 and 7 which concerned Trans □□□□□□□ 5 || communications regarding Plaintiff's Wells Fargo accounts. 6 Topic No. 9 addresses “[alll information regarding Defendant's investigation(s) into 7 || dispute(s) received by Defendant from Plaintiff or from a CRA regarding the account(s) at issue 8 |/in this case.” Singh Decl. at Exh H. Plaintiff argues that Topic 9 is “at the very heart of □□□□□□□□□□□ 9 || FCRA and CCRAA claims” and that Mr. Montella was unprepared to testify on the topic. MTC at 10 |/21. Trans Union does not address Topic 9. Oppo. 11 Initially, Plaintiff cites to a portion of the deposition transcript regarding questions related 12 ||to dispute agents employed by Intelenet. MTC at 21 (citing Tatar Decl. at Exh. 6 at 76:20-25; 13 || 77:16-19; 77:6-15; 77:20-25). As the Court has already explained, Trans Union’s 30(b)(6) 14 ||witness is not expected or required to testify as to the inner workings of 15 || Teleperformance/Intelenet. Supra at 8-9. Plaintiff next cites to the same testimony she cited 16 || regarding Topics 6 -7 about whether Plaintiff's dispute was sent to a human being for review. 17 ||MTC at 20-21. Finally, Plaintiff refers to the following excerpts of testimony as examples of Mr. 18 || Montella’s lack of preparation for the deposition: [22] ee [28] 3h 1 ee [4] > || Tatar Decl. at Exh. 6 at 13-14. 6 Q: - Okay. Going back to what you said earlier, what were the dates that you 7 were asked to look at with respect to the plaintiff's disputes? - From the period of December, 2020 on. I believe that's correct. [8] Q: - Are you aware that there were fraudulent -- allegedly fraudulent charges made to the plaintiff's credit card in 2019? A- - That wasn't part of my 10 investigation because I did not go back beyond 2020. Q: - Okay.: Is there a particular reason you didn't go back before 2020? A: - 11 Yeah, the nature of the investigation didn't tell me to do that. So what I gleaned 12 and from what I read, there was no indication that there was anything an issue.” So I did not go back beyond that. [13] Q: - When you say nature of investigation, do you mean the -- your preparation 14 for today or -- A: Yeah.- The gathering of the documents and things like that. 15 Q: □ Right.: Did you review Plaintiff's complaint prior to today's deposition? A: - 16 Yeah, I went through everything. 7 Q: - Okay.: And Plaintiff's complaint references that charges began in August of 2019.- Given that, that's an allegation in her complaint, did that not strike you 18 as odd that you didn't go back before 2020? A: - No, because everything that was done from that point forward was disputed the same way with the fraud 19 claim code.- So it was the continuation at that point, and every time that Wells 0 responded, they told us not to delete it.- So I felt there was sufficient information just to go by with what I had --- I had ‘seen up at that point. 21 Q: - Okay. So as you sit here today, you don't know whether or not Plaintiff 22 called prior to December of 2020? A- - Correct. 23 at Exh. 6 at 18. a Q: Do you know what gave rise to this fraud referral? A- - I don't, only for the 25 fact I started in December of 2020.- It was outside the scope of my investigation. [27] Tatar Decl. at Exh. 6 at 21. These excerpts indicate that contrary to Mr. Montella’s testimony 1 || that he was prepared to testify on Topic 9 [id. at 19], he was not. Mr. Montella admitted that 2 ||he did not review anything prior to December 2020 despite Plaintiff’s allegations of fraud dating 3 to August 2019 and that despite having the ability to do so, he chose not to investigate 4 || which specific documents Trans Union sent to Wells Fargo regarding Plaintiff’s dispute. Id. at 5 This testimony and Trans Union's failure to address Topic 9 support a finding that Mr. 6 ||Montella was not adequately prepared to testify regarding Topic 9. Accordingly, Plaintiff’s 7 || request for a new 30(b)(6) witness to respond to Topic 9 is DENIED IN PART AND GRANTED 8 PART. Trans Union must produce a 30(b)(6) witness prepared to testify about Topic 9. 9 || However, the deponent is not expected or required to testify as to Teleperformance/Intelenet. 10 CONCLUSION 11 Plaintiff's Motion to Compel Deposition of Defendant Trans Union is GRANTED IN PART 12 || AND DENIED IN PART as follows: 13 Trans Union must produce a 30(b)(6) witness on Topics 1, 2, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, and 24 14 amended or limited by the Court. The deposition time will be limited to four hours. The 15 || deposition must take place by March 24, 2025. 16 If Trans Union prefers, it may provide a declaration signed under penalty of perjury in 17 || place of providing a 30(b)(6) deponent for Topics 15 and 24. Trans Union must produce the 18 || declaration(s) signed under penalty of perjury by March 14, 2025. 19 Trans Union does not have to produce a 30(b)(6) deponent or declaration for Topics 6, 20 || 7, 13, 14, 23, 25, or 26. 21 IT IS SO ORDERED. 22 ||Dated: 2/27/2025 obs Mp wel 23 Hon. Barbara L. Major United States Maaistrate Judae