449 S.E.2d 684 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1994
Appellant, A Southern Outdoor Promotions, Inc. f/k/a Southern Outdoor Promotions, Inc. filed an application for interlocutory review. Expressly exercising the constitutional power vested in this court to aid our jurisdiction and to protect and effectuate our judgments, we granted a limited interlocutory review. By written order, this court expressly limited interlocutory review to the sole appellate issues whether the trial court erred by authorizing the production (without limiting said production to matters relevant to the account at issue) of documents listed in Items 2 and 11 of Exhibit A of appellee National Banner Company, Inc.’s notice to take deposition and notice to produce, to-wit: “2. All correspondence between the Internal Revenue Service and the defendant concerning the defendant’s recent audit, and a copy of IRS’s audit result and/or report”; “11. Copy of the defendant’s most current balance sheet with supporting schedules, ledgers, etc.” Notwithstanding the limited scope of the granted interlocutory review, appellee National Banner Company, Inc. has filed a cross-appeal with a single enumeration specifying that the trial court erred in denying its motion for summary judgment on July 22, 1993; the record does not reveal that cross-appellant previously filed and had been granted an application for interlocutory review of this order. Held:
Case No. A94A2608
1. In summary judgment the evidence and all reasonable inferences and conclusions arising therefrom are construed in favor of the opposing party. Moore v. Goldome Credit Corp., 187 Ga. App. 594, 596 (370 SE2d 843). Although cursory examination reveals that cross-appellant’s enumeration of error is without merit, for the following reason we do not reach an adjudication of the merits of the cross-appeal. By order of this court, dated May 16, 1994, wherein the constitutional power of this court (Ga. Const. 1983, Art. VI, Sec. I, Par. IV) was expressly invoked to restrict the scope of our interlocu
Case No. A94A2607
2. Appellee’s motion to strike and for sanctions is denied.
3. In the disposition of this appeal judicial notice is taken of the record of Case No. A94A2608 currently on file with this court. See Backus Cadillac-Pontiac v. Ernest, 195 Ga. App. 579 (394 SE2d 367). In general, parties may obtain discovery regarding any matter, not privileged, which is relevant to the subject matter involved in the pending action. OCGA § 9-11-26. Examining the record before us and the relevant documents, including the pretrial order in the record of Case No. A94A2608 and the uncontroverted evidence that a substantial portion of the documents sent to the IRS for examination have been returned to appellee/taxpayer, we conclude that the IRS documents at issue are of de minimis relevancy within the meaning of E. H. Siler Realty &c. v. Sanderlin, 158 Ga. App. 796 (1) (282 SE2d 381). Such records are not automatically discoverable upon a de minimis showing of relevancy. “ ‘Certainly the competing interest in an individual’s right to privacy must be accommodated in the discovery process. Otherwise, the discovery process would become a device for the unscrupulous litigant to squeeze concessions from the opposing side in cases where such concessions were totally unwarranted. This sort of abuse simply cannot be tolerated in an ordered system of
4. Item 11 of appellee’s notice to produce sought production of a “copy of the [appellant’s] most current balance sheet with supporting schedules, ledgers, etc.” By requiring production of all supporting schedules, ledgers, etc., appellee has not only made a demand that fails to inform appellant with adequate specificity of those documents which he is required to produce, but one which is not reasonably restricted to the disclosure of information relevant to matters in issue at trial. Recognizing the grave potential for abuse of discovery where evidence of a defendant’s financial circumstances is sought, “it has been held almost uniformly that where pre-trial discovery of the de
Accordingly, we conclude that the trial court abused its discretion in ordering production of those documents broadly identified in Items 2 and 11 of appellee’s notice to produce.
Judgment reversed in Case No. A94A2607. Appeal dismissed in Case No. A94A2608.