Responding Party's Discovery Obligation Not Affected by Requesting Party's Subjective Motive

The court granted in part plaintiff's motion to compel documents and rejected defendant's argument that plaintiff was seeking documents for an improper purpose. "Defendant argues that it should be excused from producing documents because '[plaintiff] seeks documents for an improper purpose in order to obtain a competitive advantage.' Defendant has failed to demonstrate that producing appropriate documents marked 'Highly Confidential – Attorney Eyes Only' would be insufficient to protect its competitive interests. Moreover, parties are entitled to discovery of materials that are relevant to the claims and defenses and proportional to the needs of the case, without any inquiry into their subjective motive."

Ecojet, Inc. v. Luraco, Inc., 8-16-cv-00487 (CACD October 12, 2016, Order) (Scott, MJ)