Richards v. Superior Court

Opinion

THOMPSON, J.

In this petition for writ of mandate, we consider the right of a defendant sued in a cause of action which permits the assessment of punitive damages to a protective order which limits use of the results of discovery of his financial condition to the purposes of the lawsuit and prohibits disclosure of that information for other purposes. We conclude that absent a showing by the proponent of discovery that the interest of justice requires extraneous disclosure, the defendant is entitled to the protective order. We conclude further that the court may not deny the defendant…