Justice Richard Velasquez
Defendants moved to compel Zehri to provide discovery relevant to her claims of injuries allegedly suffered as a result of the subject accident. Zehri argued defendants sought authorizations for an inordinate amount of time before the accident, for unrelated injuries, and for social media, noting case law did not permit same. She claimed she provided an eight page response to defendants' demand for discovery, listing her injuries, but refused to provide authorizations for mental health care, or pre-accident treatment records, and production of online social media network information and access, among other things. The Second Department noted broad allegations of physical injury and mental anguish affirmatively placed a plaintiff's medical condition at issue, resulting in waiver of the doctor-patient privilege. Also, the nature and severity of Zehri's prior medical condition was material and necessary to the issue of any damages recoverable for a claimed loss of enjoyment of life due to current injuries. Yet, the court noted defendants have not shown that Zehri's social network postings contained material that would be relevant to her claims, denying such disclosure. It directed Zehri to provide fresh authorizations for discovery sought regarding medical records.
