Ex Parte Dillard Dep't Stores, Inc.

Dillard Department Stores, Inc. ("Dillard"), a defendant in an action pending in the Houston Circuit Court, petitions for a writ of mandamus directing Judge Jerry White to vacate his order requiring Dillard to comply with the plaintiffs' discovery requests, which Dillard argues are overbroad and irrelevant to the claims presented. For the reasons discussed below, we grant the petition.

On November 19, 2000, Carrie Hardrick and Tina Irwin, while shopping at a Dillard department store in Dothan, were detained by an off-duty Dothan police officer employed by Dillard as a security officer because…