Fla. State Conference of Branches & Youth Units of NAACP v. Lee
Fla. State Conference of Branches & Youth Units of NAACP v. Lee
2021 WL 5014156 (N.D. Fla. 2021)
September 24, 2021
Walker, Mark E., United States District Judge
Summary
Plaintiffs filed a motion to compel non-parties Heritage Foundation and Heritage Action for America to produce documents responsive to subpoenas. The motion was denied without prejudice to refile in the appropriate district, as the subpoenas requested ESI which must be produced in the form or forms requested.
FLORIDA STATE CONFERENCE OF BRANCHES AND YOUTH UNITS OF THE NAACP, et al., Plaintiffs,
v.
LAUREL M. LEE, in her official capacity as Florida Secretary of State, et al., Defendants,
and
NATIONAL REPUBLICAN SENATORIAL COMMITTEE and REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE, Intervenor-Defendants
v.
LAUREL M. LEE, in her official capacity as Florida Secretary of State, et al., Defendants,
and
NATIONAL REPUBLICAN SENATORIAL COMMITTEE and REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE, Intervenor-Defendants
Case No.: 4:21cv187-MW/MAF
United States District Court, N.D. Florida
Filed September 24, 2021
Counsel
Amia Trigg, Mahogane Denea Reed, NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund Inc, Benjamin Louis Baer Cavataro, Elizabeth T. Fouhey, Jad H. Khazem, Michael Anthony Fletcher, II, Morgan Elizabeth Saunders, Virginia Anne Williamson, Covington & Burling LLP, Cyrus S. Nasseri, Washington, DC, Ellen Choi, Robert Daniel Fram, Covington & Burling LLP, San Francisco, CA, John Z. Morris, Michael Jeremy Pernick, Morenike Fajana, NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund, P. Benjamin Duke, Shira M. Poliak, Covington & Burling LLP, New York, NY, Nellie Linn King, Law Offices of Nellie King PA, West Palm Beach, FL, for Plaintiff.Dallin B. Holt, John J. Cycon, Kenneth Clark Daines, Gary Vergil Perko, Mohammad Omar Jazil, Phillip Michael Gordon, Holtzman Vogel Baran et al, Haymarket, VA, Ashley E. Davis, Bradley Robert Mcvay, Colleen E. O'brien, Florida Department of State Office of General Counsel, Tallahassee, FL, for Defendant/Laurel M. Lee.
Diana Masters Johnson, Robert Charles Swain, Alachua County Attorneys Office, Gainesville, FL, for Defendant/Kim A. Barton.
Edward Paul Cuffe, Susan Smith Erdelyi, Jacksonville FL, Jacksonville, FL, for Defendant/Christopher Milton, Mark Andersen, Amanda Seyfang, Sharon Chason, Tomi Stinson Brown, Starlet Cannon, Heather Riley, Shirley G. Knight, Laura Hutto, Carol A. Dunaway, Travis Hart, Grant Conyers, Janet H. Adkins, Charles Overturf, Tappie A. Villane, Vicky Oakes, William Keen, Jennifer Musgrove Kinsey, Dana Southerland, Deborah K. Osborne, Joseph Morgan, Bobby Beasley, Carol F. Rudd.
Frank Michael Mari, John M. Janousek, Orlando FL, Orlando, FL, for Defendant/Lori Scott, Mark F. Negley, Kaiti Lenhart, Connie Sanchez, John Hanlon, Penny Ogg, Marty Bishop, Heath Driggers.
Benjamin Salzillo, Nathaniel Adam Klitsberg, Fort Lauderdale FL, Joseph K. Jarone, Broward County Attorney, Fort Lauderdale, FL, for Defendant/Joe Scott.
Andy V. Bardos, Tallahassee FL, Tallahassee, FL, for Defendant/Paul A. Stamoulis, Jennifer J. Edwards, Leslie Rossway Swan, Alan Hays, Tommy Doyle, Michael Bennett, Wesley Wilcox, Joyce Griffin, Brian E. Corley, Chris Anderson.
Dale A. Scott, Orlando FL, Orlando, FL, for Defendant/Maureen Baird.
John T. Lavia, III, Gardner Bist Bowden et al, Ronald A. Labasky, Tallahassee FL, Tallahassee, FL, for Defendant/Chris H. Chambless, Vicki Davis, Mary Jane Arrington, Lori Edwards, Gertrude Walker.
Mary Margaret Giannini, Craig Dennis Feiser, City of Jacksonville Office of General Counsel, Jacksonville, FL, for Defendant/Mike Hogan.
Kia M. Johnson, Pensacola FL, Pensacola, FL, for Defendant/David H. Stafford.
Geraldo Francis Olivo, III, Robert C. Shearman, Fort Myers FL, Fort Myers, FL, for Defendant/Aletris Farnam, Diane Smith, Brenda Hoots, Therisa Meadows, Tammy Jones, Melissa Arnold.
Jon A. Jouben, Kyle J. Benda, Hernando County Attorneys Office, Brooksville, FL, for Defendant/Shirley Anderson.
Stephen Mark Todd, Office of the County Attorney, Tampa, FL, for Defendant/Craig Latimer.
Summer Denay Brown, Mark Herron, Messer Caparello & Self PA, Tallahassee, FL, for Defendant/Mark S. Earley.
Oren Rosenthal, Michael Beny Valdes, Miami-Dade County Attorneys Office, Miami, FL, for Defendant/Christina White.
Elizabeth Desloge Ellis, Gregory Thomas Stewart, Kirsten H. Mood, Nabors Giblin & Nickerson PA, Tallahassee, FL, for Defendant/Paul A. Lux.
Nicholas Ari Shannin, Shannin Law Firm PA, Orlando, FL, for Defendant/Bill Cowles.
Kelly Lynn Vicari, Pinellas County Attorneys Office, Clearwater, FL, for Defendant/Julie Marcus.
Morgan Ray Bentley, Bentley & Bruning PA, Asarasota, FL, for Defendant/Ron Turner.
London Lee Ott, William Kevin Bledsoe, Volusia County Attorney, Deland, FL, for Defendant/Lisa Lewis.
Benjamin J. Gibson, George N. Meros, Jr, Amber Stoner Nunnally, Daniel Elden Nordby, Shutts & Bowen LLP, Tallahassee, FL, Cameron Thomas Norris, Steven Christopher Begakis, Daniel Joseph Shapiro, Consovoy McCarthy PLLC, Arlington, VA, Tyler R. Green, Consovoy McCarthy PLLC, Salt Lake City, UT, Frank A. Zacherl, Shutts & Bowen LLP, Miami, FL, for Intervenor Defendant.
Walker, Mark E., United States District Judge
ORDER DENYING MOTION TO COMPEL
*1 Plaintiffs move to compel non-parties Heritage Foundation and Heritage Action for America (Heritage) to produce documents responsive to subpoenas Plaintiffs served on Heritage pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 45. ECF No. 231.
Under Rule 45, if “[a] person commanded [by subpoena] to produce documents or tangible things” objects to the subpoena, they may “serve on the party or attorney designated in the subpoena a written objection ... to producing electronically stored information in the form or forms requested.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 45(d)(2)(B). “The objection must be served before the earlier of the time specified for compliance or 14 days after the subpoena is served.” Id. Here, Heritage timely served objections on Plaintiffs. See ECF No. 231-4.
Rule 45 further provides that, “on notice to the commanded person, the serving party may move the court for the district where compliance is required for an order compelling production.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 45 (d)(2)(B)(i) (emphasis added). The problem here is that this Court is not the court for the district where compliance is required.
After the 2013 amendments to Rule 45, “[t]he prevailing rule across federal courts is that a subpoena's place of compliance is the district where documents are to be produced.” Collins v. Koch Foods, Inc., No. MC 119-008, 2019 WL 2520308, at *2 (S.D. Ga. June 18, 2019) (collecting cases); accord In re 3M Combat Arms Earplug Prod. Liab. Litig., No. 3:19-md-2885, 2020 WL 8673437, at *2 (N.D. Fla. Nov. 18, 2020).
Here, the subpoenas state that the requested documents are to be produced at 319 Clematis Street, Suite 107 West Palm Beach, Florida. ECF Nos. 231-1 and 231-2. West Palm Beach is in the Southern District of Florida. Accordingly, the Southern District of Florida is the district where compliance is required, and Plaintiffs must move to compel production there. See Collins, 2019 WL 2520308, at *2 (“the subpoena at issue requires compliance in the Northern District of Alabama, and therefore, this Court lacks jurisdiction to hear the motion to compel.”). Accordingly, Plaintiffs' motion to compel, ECF No. 231, is DENIED without prejudice to refile in the appropriate district.
SO ORDERED on September 24, 2021.