Moore v. Miller - Civil Action No. 10-cv-651-JLK, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 79568 (D. Colo. June 6, 2013)

Rule:

Facebook activity may be discoverable if the writings were relevant to plaintiff’s claims of discrimination as well as to his claims of emotional distress, as his writings may relate to his emotions, feelings, mental state, commitment to the job, and claims of harassment or retaliation.

Facts:

In Defendants' Motion to Compel Discovery, Defendants requested writings from the social network Facebook page for member 'justice for james moore' or any other Facebook posts by James Moore on his own member page. The Order granting the request stated no qualifiers with respect to the scope of discovery. Defendants maintained that Moore did not fully comply with the Order, because Moore only produced an incomplete and highly-redacted printout of plaintiff’s Facebook wall posts. Moore argued that the Information Defendants were seeking was irrelevant. 

Issue:

Under the circumstances, should Moore produce his entire Facebook history in order to fully comply with the court’s Order? 

Answer:

Yes.

Conclusion:

Given that Defendants specifically asked in their Motion for the discovery at issue and that the Order granting that Motion did not constrict the contours of their request, i.e., there was nothing in the Motion that was "DENIED," the Court held that the Order was best read as granting all the Motion requested. The Court further held that since Moore’s Facebook activity was relevant to his claims of emotional pain and suffering, as well as his claim of physical pain and humiliation, defendants were entitled to know of these accounts.