Document 5bx2VVYJwvroyXj747pw072nV
FILE NAME: Kaiser Gypsum (KG) DATE: 1992 KG045 DOC#: KG045 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Legal - Response to Request for Production
1 PATRICK J. HAGAN, ESQ. - Bar No.: 68264 EDWARD E. HARTLEY, ESQ. - Bar No.: 122892
2 KINCAID, GIANUNZIO, CAUDLE & HUBERT A Professional Corporation
3 200 Webster Street, Suite 200 Oakland, California 94604-0828
4 (510) 465-5212
5 Attorneys for Defendants KAISER CEMENT CORPORATION
6 KAISER GYPSUM COMPANY, INC.
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AUG 1 0 1992
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THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
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IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO
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11 COY COSSEY,
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vs.
Plaintiff,
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ABEX CORPORATION, ET AL,
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Defendants.
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ACTION NO.' 920148
16 LYNN WEIMER
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ACTION NO. 914594
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Plaintiff, ^
18 ABEX CORPORATION, ET AL.
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Defendants. 20 ____________________________________ /
CONSOLIDATED PARTIAL RESPONSE OF KAISER CEMENT CORPORATION AND KAISER GYPSUM COMPANY, INC. TO PLAINTIFFS' REQUEST FOR PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS
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PRELIMINARY STATEMENT
23 During April, 1992 Plaintiffs served Notices of
24 Deposition and Requests for Production of Documents on defendants
25 Kaiser Cement Corporation ("Kaiser Cement") and Kaiser Gypsum
26 Company, Inc. ("Kaiser Gypsum"), seeking production twenty-five
27 categories of documents and related depositions. Copies of the
28 notices are attached as Exhibit A. On May 1 Kaiser Cement and
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1 Kaiser Gypsum served Plaintiffs, by letter, with their objections.
2 (Exhibit B hereto). All objections stated in Exhibit B are
3 incorporated herein by reference. Among the objections was that
4 the requested categories have no geographic limitation and span
5 very long time periods. Consequently, locating the responsive
6 documents would be unduly burdensome and oppressive.
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However, Kaiser Gypsum agreed, without waiving any
8 objections, to produce appropriate responsive documents, if given
9 a reasonable amount of time to complete the task. By letter of
10 May 20, 1992, counsel for Kaiser Cement and Kaiser Gypsum indicated
11 several months would be needed to complete this task (Exhibit C ) ,
12 but also indicated that certain categories of documents could be
13 provided before completion and prior to any depositions.
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Since May, Kaiser Cement and Kaiser Gypsum have been
15 engaged in a diligent search through their voluminous retained
16 records for documents potentially responsive to the twenty-five
17 document production categories. Because neither firm's retained
18 records are organized in terms of the document production
19 categories, literally thousands of boxes must be thoroughly
20 examined to locate documents fully responsive to some requests (or
21 to determine that there are none). However, completion of that
task is not required in the case of documents responsive to
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document production category 15 (annual reports).
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24 Accordingly, Kaiser Cement and Kaiser Gypsum provide the following separate partial response to Plaintiffs request for
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26 production of documents : Request 1 5 . All your annual reports for the years 19 36
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through 1991 inclusive, to include all alleged predecessors or
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1 successors in interest and subsidiaries involved in the sale,
2 mining, milling, distribution, import, transport, installation, or
3 manufacture of asbestos or asbestos-containing products.
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Kaiser Cement Response:
Kaiser Cement objects to
5 this request on the grounds that it is oppressive and overbroad
(and therefore not calculated to lead to the discovery of
7 admissible evidence) to the extent that it seeks annual reports
8 for years in which Kaiser Cement did not market asbestos-
9 containing products. The only years during which Kaiser Cement
10 issued annual reports and marketed any products that contained
11 asbestos as an ingredient were from 1959-76. During the years
12 1959-63 Kaiser Cement was known as "Permanente Cement Company" ;
13 during the years 1964-76 Kaiser Cement was known as "Kaiser Cement
14 & Gysum Corporation." Without waiving its objections,
15 Kaiser Cement agrees to produce these annual reports.
16 Kaiser Gypsum Response: Kaiser Gypsum adopts the above-
stated objections of Kaiser Cement.
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Without waiving those
objections, Kaiser Gypsum responds that it never issued annual
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reports, and, consequently, there are no documents responseive to
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20 this request.
21 DATED ; August 7, 1992
KINCAID, GIANUNZIO, CAUDLE & HUBERT
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A Professional Corporation
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KAISER CEMENT CORPORATION AND KAISER GYPSUM COMPANY, INC.
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