In a slip and fall personal injury action, the defendant brought a refusals motion seeking answers to discovery questions and production of medical and accident-related records.
The court applied the relevance test under Rule 31.06(1) of the Rules of Civil Procedure and emphasized that discovery must be confined to matters relevant to the pleadings and not constitute a fishing expedition.
The court limited several requests for historical medical information to five years pre‑accident and upheld certain refusals where the requested information lacked relevance to the pleaded injuries.
However, the court ordered disclosure of documents relating to a prior motor vehicle accident to assess potential overlap of damages and avoid double recovery.
Both parties achieved mixed success and no costs were awarded.
