Stiegel v. USAA Casualty Insurance Company

MOTION to Compel Discovery from Defendant Auto Injury Solutions, Inc.

M.D. Ga.March 2, 2018

Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel Discovery Page 1 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA COLUMBUS DIVISION RAIDEN STIEGEL and * HOLLY STIEGEL, * * Civil Action File No.: Plaintiffs, * 4:16-CV-00346-CDL v. * * USAA CASUALTY INSURANCE * COMPANY, AUTO INJURY * SOLUTIONS, INC. * * Defendant. * PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION TO COMPEL DISCOVERY FROM DEFENDANT AUTO INJURY SOLUTIONS, INC. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37, Plaintiffs hereby move the Court for an order compelling Defendant Auto Injury Solutions, Inc. to provide discovery. Specifically, Plaintiffs have requested that AIS produce documentary evidence and respond to interrogatories. Defendant AIS has raised an objection to each of the following items of written discovery and has failed to provide the requested documents and responses. Plaintiffs respectfully request that the Court to compel USAA to provide responsive documents and information to the following: A. Requests for Production of Documents  Plaintiffs’ Request for Production No. 1 states s follows: Please produce the depositions (with exhibits) of any corporate designated agent, executive or manager taken in any lawsuit filed against USAA or AIS in the past ten years relating to the AIS system for auditing bills and records for medical payments claims. This request includes but is not limited to any depositions of Elisa Lazarus or Tina Sentfle, identified in AIS’ initial disclosures. Specifically, this request includes but is not limited to the following actions filed against USAA relating to its medical payments and personal injury protection first party coverage: 1. My Spine, P.S. et. al. v. USAA Casualty Insurance Company, USAA General Indemnity Company, United Services Automobile Association, and Garrison Property Case 4:16-cv-00346-CDL Document 69 Filed 03/02/18 Page 1 of 6 Case 4:16-cv-00346-CDL Document 69 Filed 03/02/18 Page 2 of 6 Case 4:16-cv-00346-CDL Document 69 Filed 03/02/18 Page 3 of 6 Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel Discovery Page 4 ”) provided to AIS by USAA in the past 5 years, and all documents, written or electronic correspondence, memoranda, reports, Power Point presentations, or other documents relating to all such quarterly reviews and meetings.  Plaintiffs’ Request for Production No. 5 stated as follows: Please produce the “User Manual” in use in 2016 defined and identified in the Statement of Work attached to the MSA as Exhibit A (User Manual defined at Bates USAA06292).  Plaintiffs’ Request for Production No. 7 stated as follows: Please produce any and all documents sent to USAA representatives during the last 5 years compiling or discussing statistics relating to medical payments claims submitted, approved, reduced and/or denied in Georgia following a file review by AIS for the preceding five years. This request is limited to information on USAA policies providing $50,000 or more in medical payments coverage if that information was provided separately. If such documents were not compiled separately, please produce all such documents.  Plaintiffs’ Request for Production No. 12 stated as follows: Please produce all documents relating to the marketing and sale of AIS’ product to USAA, including but not limited to cost savings estimates, illustrations, financial projections, itemizations, handouts, transmitted estimates, descriptions of claims handling procedure, and/or use of algorithms and the Audit tool.  Plaintiffs’ Request for Production No. 16 stated as follows: Please produce any and all reports sent routinely (monthly, quarterly, or annually) by AIS to USAA reflecting the continuing performance of AIS in relation to the administration of medical payments claims in the past 5 years. If such reports were produced separately for Georgia, this request is limited to those reports relating to Georgia claims in the past 5 years. If those reports were not produced separately, please produce all such reports. B. Interrogatories  Plaintiffs’ Interrogatory No. 3 stated as follows: Please state the annual income of AIS for the past 5 years stemming from the administration of first party medical payments claims, and state the gross amount of all payments received by AIS from USAA (including all affiliates) for the past 5 years. Identify all witnesses with knowledge relevant to this interrogatory.  Plaintiffs’ Interrogatory No. 8 stated as follows: Please identify the person(s) who attended each Knowledge Sharing Review (as described in the MSA at Para. ) on behalf of AIS for each year since the MSA commenced, including the date and the location of each such Knowledge Sharing Review meeting.  Plaintiffs’ Interrogatory No. 10 stated as follows: If AIS uses “flags” or “rules” in the processing or evaluation of USAA medical payments claims, please describe those specific flags and rules, and specify which flags and rules are set by USAA and which flags are set by AIS.  Plaintiffs’ Interrogatory No. 12 stated as follows: Describe with specificity all algorithms Case 4:16-cv-00346-CDL Document 69 Filed 03/02/18 Page 4 of 6 Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel Discovery Page 5 used by AIS in the evaluation of medical payments claims made by USAA insureds in Georgia since 2010. Wherefore, Plaintiffs respectfully request that this Court compel Defendant USAA to provide documents and responses to the above. Plaintiffs are concurrently filing a separate memorandum in support of this motion. Respectfully submitted this the _28th_ day of _February, 2018. GARY O. BRUCE, P.C. _/s/Mitchell B. Ladson______ 912 Second Avenue Gary O. Bruce Columbus, Georgia 31901 Georgia Bar No. 090266 Phone: (706) 596-1446 Mitchell B. Ladson Fax: (706) 596-8627 Georgia Bar No. 984512 Email: mitch@garybrucelaw.net Attorneys for Plaintiff THE CALLIER FIRM _/s/Jefferson C. Callier_______ Post Office Box 2604 Jefferson C. Callier Columbus, Georgia 31902-2604 Georgia Bar No. 105250 Phone: (706) 323-7711 Attorney for Plaintiff Fax: (706) 323-7544 Email: CalCallier@aol.com Case 4:16-cv-00346-CDL Document 69 Filed 03/02/18 Page 5 of 6 Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel Discovery Page 6 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I, Mitchell B. Ladson, counsel for Plaintiff, do hereby certify that I have this day served a true and correct copy of the above and foregoing PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO COMPEL DISCOVERY TO DEFENDANT AUTO INJURY SOLUTIONS, INC. by depositing copies of the same in the United States mail with required postage affixed thereto and properly addressed to insure delivery to: Mark Barber Brent Cole Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz 3414 Peachtree Road NE, Suite 1600 Atlanta, Georgia 30326 Travis C. Hargrove The Finley Firm, P.C. 200 13th Street Columbus, GA 31901 Amy Cook-Olson 633 17th Street, Suite 2200 Denver, CO 80202 Respectfully submitted this _28th_ day of _February_, 2018. GARY O. BRUCE, P.C. _/s/Mitchell B. Ladson______ 912 Second Avenue Gary O. Bruce Columbus, Georgia 31901 Georgia Bar No. 090266 Phone: (706) 596-1446 Mitchell B. Ladson Fax: (706) 596-8627 Georgia Bar No. 984512 Email: mitch@garybrucelaw.net Attorneys for Plaintiff Case 4:16-cv-00346-CDL Document 69 Filed 03/02/18 Page 6 of 6