YWCA of Oklahoma City v. Melson

OP ALA, Justice.

¶ 1 The issues we are asked to decide in this original proceeding are whether in the pretrial discovery stage (1) a tort defendant may be compelled to produce financial rec ords in advance of the judge’s in-trial decision that would submit to the jury the plaintiffs plea for punitive damages and (2) if the materials sought by the plaintiff be discoverable at that stage, should the court hold a hearing to consider a requested protective order by whose terms the discovered material would remain under seal until the punitive-damages phase of the trial? We answer both questions in…