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Protecting Non-Party Crewmember Contact Information (Crewlists)

A discovery request seeking the vessel crewlist complete with contact information inevitably follows shortly after a seaman commences a personal injury lawsuit. Vessel owners and operators often have several legitimate concerns regarding production of such information—including protecting the privacy of the non-party crewmembers, and ensuring that the crewlist is not used improperly for solicitation or other wrongful purposes by plaintiff’s counsel. These concerns are particularly acute on large vessels where there are many non-party crewmembers, and where production would disclose contact information for non-party crewmembers who may be speaking agents for the company under the law.

In Washington (as well as in other jurisdictions), civil rules governing discovery at both the state and federal level give the trial court broad discretion to enter protective orders preventing or limiting the terms of discovery where necessary to prevent annoyance, harassment, embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden/expense. The moving party has the burden of establishing that good cause for entry of such a protective order exists. The Court ultimately balances the rationale for the constraints on discovery requested by the moving party (here the Defendant vessel owner/operator) against the non-movant’s (here the plaintiff’s) right to obtain and use the information in the discovery process. Depending on the circumstances, in a seaman’s personal injury cases, plaintiffs are often capable of articulating a rational discovery basis for production of contact information for some or all non-party crewmembers of the vessel of injury. On counterbalance are vessel owners’ clear concerns with protecting the privacy of their current and/or former non-party employees as well as ensuring that the crewlist information is not used for solicitation or other improper purposes. There are many factors that inform the decision to utilize a motion for a protective order in this manner—including the specific details of the case, as well as the fee shifting and cost provisions of governing local rules.

In practice, LeGros Buchanan & Paul attorneys have assisted vessel owners in securing protective orders limiting the use and dissemination of non-party crewmember contact information. LBP attorneys have also had success in obtaining such protective orders from designated discovery masters. For example, attached is a protective order governing the use and dissemination of non-party crewmember contact information in the matter of Rodriguez v. Glacier Fish Company (No. 08-2-12754-1SEA) (June 19, 2009 King County Superior Court). This particular protective order limited the use and dissemination of the non-party crewmember contact information produced in the course of discovery, and further prevented filing of the crewlist as a matter of public record. Additionally, at the conclusion of the case, opposing counsel was required to certify compliance with the protective order, including destruction of all copies of the crewlist in plaintiff’s possession. Acopy of opposing counsel’s certification (filed January 4, 2010) is also attached.


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