Can the personnel files of the insurance company’s claims adjusters be discovered? Part 2 | Property Insurance Protection Law Blog

This blog follows my previous blog, Can personnel files be discovered? In my previous blog, I explained that some courts have held that when the information in personnel files is discoverable when it is “clearly relevant” and the information is “not otherwise readily available.”¹ To further explore how courts have interpreted this, I will focus on what courts have held to be “clearly relevant” in this regard.

“Clearly relevant”

IN Weller v. American Home Assurance Company,² the district court made the distinction that when applying the “clearly relevant”

; test, there is a difference between employees whose conduct is directly involved and other employees. When the records sought are those of employees whose direct actions are relevant, “the relevancy requirement is generally satisfied by the fact that the personnel file and employee evaluations should indicate the employee’s education, experience, duties, and qualifications.”³

IN Blount v. Wake Electric Membership Corp.,⁴ Plaintiff sought discovery of Defendant Champion’s personnel file. Plaintiff alleged in this case that negligence on the part of Defendant Champion while acting as agent for the other Defendant, Wake Electric, caused Plaintiff’s injuries.⁵ The court found that defendant Champion’s personnel file could reveal whether defendant Wake Electric “failed to hire qualified employees, negligently delegated duties to underqualified, untrained, or inexperienced employees, or did not adequately supervise employees.”⁶ The court noted that the record could also demonstrate whether there had been specific instances of negligence by the particular employee, defendant Champion, and for these reasons, the court found that defendant Champion’s personnel file met the test of being “clearly relevant.”⁷

IN Howard v. College of the Albemarle,⁸ Plaintiff filed a lawsuit against Defendant, a community college in North Carolina, and President of the COA, Kandi Deitemeyer, alleging employment discrimination, wrongful termination, and intentional infliction of emotional distress from Defendant’s conduct. The plaintiff asked the court to compel Deitemeyer’s personnel records.⁹ Because of the plaintiff’s allegations that focused on Deitemeyer’s conduct, the court found that the defendant’s personnel records here were “clearly relevant.”¹⁰

When requesting personnel files through discovery, it is important to determine whether the files you are seeking are those of an employee whose actions were directly involved or other employees. This distinction will set the standard for how file relevance will be determined.

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¹ Can personnel files be discovered?Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog, 11 Jan. 2023.

² Weller v. Am. Home Assurance Co., No.: 3:05-cv-90, 2007 US Dist. LEXIS 27284, at *18 (NDWVa. Apr. 10, 2007).

³ Id. (quoting Blount v. Wake Elec. Membership Corp.162 FRD 102, 106 (EDNC 1993)).

⁴ Blount v. Wake Elec. Membership Corp.162 FRD 102, 105 (EDNC 1993).

⁵ Id. at 106.

⁶ Id.

⁷ Id.

⁸ Howard v. Coll. of Albemarle, No. 2:15-CV-00039-D, 2016 US Dist. LEXIS 109242, at *1 (EDNC Aug. 16, 2016).

⁹ Id. at 9

¹⁰ Id.