Rose V Dowd Motion To Comple
Rose V Dowd Motion To Comple
Rose V Dowd Motion To Comple
PETER ROSE, :
:
Plaintiff, :
:
v. : C.A. No. 2:16-cv-03681-PBT
:
JOHN DOWD, :
:
Defendant. :
[PROPOSED] ORDER
AND NOW, this ____ day of _________, 2017, upon consideration of Defendant
John Dowds Motion to Compel, it is hereby ORDERED that the Motion is GRANTED and that,
(a) provide full and complete responses to the two interrogatories that
(b) admit or deny Requests Nos. 1-3 in Defendants Fifth Set of Requests for
Admissions, dated May 30, 2017 and attached to Defendants Motion as Exhibit 14;
(c) admit or deny Requests Nos. 1-8 in Defendants Fourth Set of Requests
for Admissions, dated May 12, 2017 and attached to Defendants Motion as Exhibit 15;
Defendants Second Set of Interrogatories, dated April 10, 2017 and attached to Defendants
(e) admit or deny Requests Nos. 5-17 in Dowds Fifth Set of Requests for
Admissions, dated May 30, 2017 and attached to Defendants Motion as Exhibit 14;
Case 2:16-cv-03681-PBT Document 28 Filed 07/31/17 Page 2 of 27
(f) produce any records regarding any mental health treatment that Plaintiff
(g) execute releases authorizing any mental health providers that have treated
BY THE COURT:
___________________
PETRESE B. TUCKER
United States District Judge
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PETER ROSE, :
:
Plaintiff, :
:
v. : C.A. No. 2:16-cv-03681-PBT
:
JOHN DOWD, :
:
Defendant. :
Pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 33, 34, 36, and 37, and for the
reasons set forth in the accompanying Memorandum of Law, which is incorporated here as
though fully set forth, Defendant John Dowd moves to compel Plaintiff Peter Rose to:
(a) provide full and complete responses to the two interrogatories that
as Exhibit 13;
(b) admit or deny Requests Nos. 1-3 in Defendants Fifth Set of Requests for
(c) admit or deny Requests Nos. 1-8 in Defendants Fourth Set of Requests
for Admissions, dated May 12, 2017 and attached as Exhibit 15;
Defendants Second Set of Interrogatories, dated April 10, 2017 and attached as Exhibit 16;
(e) admit or deny Requests Nos. 5-17 in Dowds Fifth Set of Requests for
(f) produce any records regarding any mental health treatment that Plaintiff
(g) execute releases authorizing any mental health providers that have treated
Respectfully,
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Case 2:16-cv-03681-PBT Document 28 Filed 07/31/17 Page 5 of 27
PETER ROSE, :
:
Plaintiff, :
:
v. : C.A. No. 2:16-cv-03681-PBT
:
JOHN DOWD, :
:
Defendant. :
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
I. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1
A. Rose Sues Dowd, Claiming That Dowd Falsely Accused Him of Statutory
Rape. ....................................................................................................................... 2
B. Jane Doe Attests That Rose Had Sex with Her When She Was Under 16,
and Rose Responds That He Did Not Do So Until Doe Was 16. ........................... 5
E. Rose Refuses to Provide Discovery About His Mental Health History. .............. 11
A. The Requests About Having Sex with Teenagers Are Relevant, and There
Is No Justification for Refusing to Answer Them. ............................................... 11
C. The Requests About Roses Mental Health History Are Relevant, and
There Is No Justification for Refusing to Answer Them. ..................................... 16
I. INTRODUCTION
Pete Rose claims that, during a sports radio interview, John Dowd falsely accused
him of committing statutory rapeor, in other words, having sex with people too young to
consent. Dowd based what he said on what one of Roses own associates told him and had no
doubt that it was true, particularly given the many media reports over the years about Roses
sexual indiscretions. But according to Roses Complaint, Rose never did any such thing.
Compl. 60-61.
After Rose filed suit, a woman, referred to here as Jane Doe, provided a
Declaration contradicting Roses assertion that he never committed statutory rape. Ex. 1 (Doe
Decl.). 1 Doe stated that Rose had sex with her when she was less than 16 years old. Dowd then
served discovery requests seeking Roses position regarding the sexual relationship that Doe
recounted. In response, Rose admitted that he had sex with Doe, but claimed that he did not do
so until 1975, when Doe was 16 years old. Ex. 2 (Roses Responses to Dowds First
Interrogatories) No. 1. Rose insists that this distinction is significant because, while a 16-year-
old cannot consent to have sex with a 33-year-old in many states, only those under 16 cannot do
so in Ohio.
Dowd also served discovery requests seeking information about any other
teenagers with whom Rose had sex. Rose has refused to answer many of these requests. In
addition, in light of how important Roses credibility is in this casefor example, who is to be
believed about Does age, Doe or Rose?Dowd served discovery requests regarding past
instances in which Rose lied to serve his own interests. Rose has refused to answer these
1
While Does real name has been provided to Rose, Dowd has redacted it from the
attachments to this filing to protect her privacy. Dowd will submit unredacted versions if the
Court would like him to do so.
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requests, too. Finally, Dowd served discovery requests regarding Roses mental health history,
because Rose is seeking damages for mental anguish and suffering. Rose will not provide this
information, either.
If Rose did not want to answer questions about having sex with teenagers, his
well-documented history of lying, or his mental health, he should not have filed this lawsuit. But
having chosen to do so, Rose should be ordered to provide the requested information. He cannot
A. Rose Sues Dowd, Claiming That Dowd Falsely Accused Him of Statutory
Rape.
Pete Rose played baseball for the Cincinnati Reds from 1963-1978 and for the
Philadelphia Phillies from 1979-1983. Compl. 6-7. Rose returned to the Reds in 1984. Id.
10. He was both a player and the teams manager from 1984-1986 and just its manager from
In late February 1989, the Office of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball
(MLB) engaged Dowd, a Washington, D.C. attorney, to investigate reports that Rose had bet
on baseball games, including Reds games, in violation of Major League Rule 21. Ex. 3 (Dowd
Report Introduction and Summary of Report) at 1. Rule 21(d) prohibits [a]ny player, umpire, or
club or league official or employee from betting on baseball, imposing a one-year ban on
anyone who bets on any baseball game and a permanent ban on anyone who bets on a game in
connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform. Id. at 1-2. In the report that he issued
with the results of the investigation, Dowd concluded that Pete Rose bet on baseball, and in
particular, on games of the Cincinnati Reds Baseball Club, during the 1985, 1986 and 1987
seasons. Id. at 3. Thus, Dowd determined that Rose bet on the Reds when he played for the
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team and when he managed the team. Dowd also documented how, rather than dealing directly
with bookies, Rose usually had one of his associatesincluding a memorabilia dealer named
Michael Bertoliniplace bets with bookies on his behalf. Id. at 3-5. In August 1989, MLB
Commissioner Bartlett Giamatti placed Rose on MLBs permanently ineligible list for violating
Rule 21. Compl. 19. Less than one year later, Rose pleaded guilty to filing false 1985 and
1987 tax returns and was sentenced to prison. See Ex. 4 (July 20, 1990 N.Y. Times Article). In
2004, Rose finally admitted to betting on baseball as the Reds manager, but he continued to
deny that he bet on the team as a player. See Ex. 5 (June 22, 2015 ESPN Article).
At the end of February 2015, Rose filed his most recent application for
reinstatement with MLBthe third such application he has filed over the years. Id. 22, 23,
32. On June 22, 2015, ESPN reported that a notebook seized from Bertolini during an unrelated
mail fraud investigation contained records of bets that he had placed for Rose in 1986when
Rose was both a manager and a player for the Reds. Ex. 5 (June 22, 2015 ESPN Article). On
July 13, 2015, Dowd was interviewed on a West Chester, Pennsylvania sports radio show about
Roses then-pending reinstatement application. Compl. 46-47. During the interview, when
asked whether he could see the window inside [Roses] soul and forget about all this
[gambling], Dowd answered no and went on to comment: Michael Bertolini, you know, told
us that he not only ran bets but he ran young girls for him down at spring training, ages 12 to 14.
Isnt that lovely. So thats statutory rape every time you do that. Id. 48.
As Dowd made clear on the radio, he based what he said about Rose and young
girls on what Bertolini told him. Dowd had no doubt that what Bertolini had told him was true,
particularly given the many media reports over the years about Roses sexual indiscretions. The
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[Roses] attitude toward the opposite sex was vintage Cro-Magnon. There were
no qualms about displaying his appetites with breathtaking vulgarity. For a time,
after he was out of high school and in the minor leagues, his steady girlfriend was
a fourteen-year-old with a sensational body, a fact that occasioned considerable
gossip and not a small amount of envy at Western Hills High School. James
Reston, Collision at Home Plate: The Lives of Pete Rose and Bart Giamatti 115
(1991) (excerpt attached as Exhibit 6).
Rose literally had a girlfriend in every city with a National League franchise. He
liked what he called hard-bellies, young women with firm bodies and no flab.
He and [teammate] Tommy Helms had a little routine about this. Hey, Petey,
how do you get all those hard-bellies? Tommy Helms would say. Just look at
their fingers, Rose would reply, by which he meant the expensive rings he
bought them. Michael Sokolove, Hustle: The Myth, Life and Lies of Pete Rose
183 (1990) (excerpt attached as Exhibit 7).
[Rose] flaunted his affairs openly, took his girlfriends on the team plane, stepped
out in public with them in Cincinnati, gave [his then-wife] Karolyns game tickets
to them, and even took his own children out to lunch with them. Reston,
Collision at Home Plate 120 (excerpt attached as Exhibit 6).
Virtually from the moment that [Roses associate] Gioiosa arrived in Cincinnati,
he remembers, Rose made no attempt to hide from him the fact that he had
girlfriends. He called it juggling, and Gioiosa became a facilitator, picking up
girlfriends from the airport, sending money to at least one of them via Western
Union, taking the vaunted Hickok belt that Rose had won as the nations best
athlete to Litwin jewelers and having all the diamonds removed and made into
earrings that Rose would parcel out as gifts. Buzz Bissinger, A Darker Shade of
Rose, Vanity Fair, Sept. 2001, at 12-13 (article attached as Exhibit 8).
He never had enough women and you were constantly coming across women who
had affairs with him. They all were all given the same sort of Pete Rose signature
collection of Porsches, Presidential Rolexes, and boob jobs . . . . I came across a
woman who had this child who didnt know that Pete was his father. She loved
him. She was still in love with him and the sad part about it is that she was
involved with him when she was a high school girl wearing a catholic schoolgirls
uniform. ESPN Sports Century Pete Rose Episode (Interview of Jill Stein, USA
Today), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3qAPqLbFA4, beginning at 23:37.
Rose nonetheless sued Dowd, asserting that he had never committed statutory rape and that, at
the time of the sports radio interview, Dowd knew that Rose had not done so. Compl. 60-61,
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B. Jane Doe Attests That Rose Had Sex with Her When She Was Under 16, and
Rose Responds That He Did Not Do So Until Doe Was 16.
After Rose sued Dowd, Jane Doe attested in a Declaration that Rose had had sex
with her before she turned 16. Ex. 1 (Doe Decl.). Under penalty of perjury, Doe stated the
following:
Id. 2-5.
Dowd then served Rose with requests for admissions, asking Rose to admit (1)
that he knew Doe, (2) that he had a sexual relationship with Doe, and (3) that the facts stated in
Does Declaration were true and correct. Ex. 9 (Dowds First RFAs) Nos. 1-3. Rose admitted
that he knew Doe and that he had a sexual relationship with her, but denied the other facts stated
in her Declaration, including that she was under 16 when their sexual relationship began and that
they had sex in locations outside of Ohio. Ex. 10 (Roses Responses to Dowds First RFAs)
Nos. 1-3. 2
2
In his responses, Rose clarified that, when he knew her and had a sexual relationship
with her, Does last name was different than it is today.
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Rose responded that his sexual relationship with Doe began sometime in 1975
when, [b]ased upon [Roses] information and belief at that time, [Doe] was sixteen years of
age. Ex. 2 (Roses Responses to Dowds First Interrogatories) No. 1. Rose stated that he could
not remember how his sexual relationship with Doe began, where it began, how long it lasted,
who knew about it, where he first met Doe, who introduced him to her, or how old she was when
he first met her. Id. According to Roses verified response, all that he could recall was that he
did not have sex with Doe until 1975; that, when they first had sex, he thought she was 16; and
that they had sex only in the greater Cincinnati, Ohio region. Id.
To put Roses admitted conduct in context, in 1975the year he says he first had
sex with DoeDoe finished her junior year of high school. Rose, in contrast, turned 34, was a
National League All-Star for the ninth time, won the World Series MVP award, was named
Sports Illustrateds Sportsman of the Year, and celebrated his eleventh anniversary with his then-
wife Karolyn and the sixth and eleventh birthdays of their two children. See David Jordan, Pete
Rose: A Biography 82 (2004) (excerpt attached as Exhibit 12). Moreover, while Ohio has not
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made it a crime for a 33- or 34-year-old to have sex with a 16-year-old, 12 other states have done
so. 3
Given that the heart of Roses case is his claim that Dowd defamed him by falsely
accusing him of statutory rape, Dowd served Rose with additional discovery requests about
First, to uncover any other girls who were or may have been under 18 when Rose
engaged in sexual conduct with them, Dowd asked Rose to answer the following two
interrogatories:
Identify every person who you knew to have been under 18 years
of age when the two of you first had sex or engaged in other sexual
conduct.
Identify every person who you did not know to have been over 17
years of age when the two of you first had sex or engaged in other
sexual conduct.
Ex. 13 (June 2, 2017 Tobin Email). 4 Dowd used under 18 as the age cut-off because, while the
applicable age of consent is 16 in Ohio, it is 17 or 18 in twelve other states. See footnote 3. And
Rose spent substantial time in six of those twelve states each year, living in Florida for one
month for spring training and playing games against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the San Diego
3
See Ariz. Rev. Stat. 13-1405 (Arizona, illegal if under 18); Cal. Penal Code 261.5
(California, illegal if under 18); Fla. Stat. 794.05 (Florida, illegal if under 18); Idaho Code
18-6101 (Idaho, illegal if under 18); 720 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/11-1.60 (Illinois, illegal if under
17); Mo. Rev. Stat. 566.034 (Missouri, illegal if under 17); N.Y. Penal Law 130.05(3)(a),
130.25 (New York, illegal if under 17); Or. Rev. Stat. 163.315(1)(a), 163.415 (Oregon, illegal
if under 18); Tenn. Code 39-13-506 (Tennessee, illegal if under 18); Tex. Penal Code 22.011
(Texas, illegal if under 17); Utah Code 76-5-401.2 (Utah, illegal if under 18);Va. Code 18.2-
371 (Virginia, illegal if under 18).
4
Dowd initially served a broader interrogatory on this issue as Interrogatory No. 2 of his
first set of interrogatories, but, during the meet and confer process, pared it down and broke it
into the two interrogatories quoted in the text above.
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Padres, and the San Francisco Giants in California; the Chicago Cubs in Illinois; the St. Louis
Cardinals in Missouri; the New York Mets in New York; and the Houston Astros in Texas.
Second, Dowd asked Rose to admit that he spent time with, had sex with, and
engaged in other sexual conduct with Doe at one specific address in Cincinnati. Ex. 14 (Dowds
Fifth RFAs) Nos. 1-3. 5 It is Dowds understanding that this specific address is the address of the
house where a friend of Roses lived in the 1970s and that this is the house in Cincinnati
referenced in Does Declaration as the place where, before [Does] sixteenth birthday, Pete
Rose began a sexual relationship with [her]. See Ex. 1 (Doe Decl.) 3. Roses answers would
therefore help clarify the extent to which his and Does respective accounts of their sexual
relationship differ.
Third, Dowd asked Rose to admit that Doe was not the only 16-year-old or high
school student with whom he engaged in sexual conduct when he was over 20 years old or over
Fourth, Dowd asked Rose to identify and describe his sexual relationship with the
14-year-old Western Hills High School student who, according to the media report excerpted at
page 4 above, was Roses steady girlfriend when he was in the minor leagues. Ex. 16 (Dowds
Second Interrogatories) No. 1. Dowd also asked Rose to identify and describe his sexual
relationship with any other Western Hills High School student who was his girlfriend or with
whom he had sex or engaged in other sexual conduct when she was 15 or younger and Rose was
While the actual address has been provided to Rose, Dowd has redacted it from the
5
attachments to this filing to protect the privacy of any current and former residents. Dowd will
submit unredacted versions if the Court would like him to do so.
6
Dowds Fourth Set of Requests for Admissions is mistakenly titled Dowds Second Set
of Requests for Admissions. In his responses, Rose corrected this typographical error.
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Rose has refused to answer any of these requests. See Ex. 17 (June 13, 2017
Johnson Email and Attachment); Ex. 18 (Roses Responses to Dowds Fifth RFAs) Nos. 1-3; Ex.
19 (Roses Responses to Dowds Fourth RFAs) Nos. 1-8; Ex 20 (May 10, 2017 Johnson Email). 7
Roses credibility is critical in this case. Doe has stated, under penalty of perjury,
that Rose had sex with her before she turned 16. Ex. 1 (Doe Decl.) 3. Rose, on the other hand,
maintains that he never committed statutory rape and that he did not have sex with Doe until
she turned 16. Compl. 60-61; Ex. 2 (Roses Responses to Dowds First Interrogatories) No. 1.
Therefore, Dowd served discovery requests aimed at establishing that it has long been Roses
modus operandi to lie when it serves his interests. Specifically, Dowd asked Rose to admit that:
He lied under oath during his deposition in Dowds gambling investigation when
he testified, on or about April 20, 1989, Nobody bets major league baseball for
me. Ever.
He lied on or about August 24, 1989, in the press conference he held after being
placed on baseballs permanently ineligible list, when he stated, regardless of
what the Commissioner said today, I did not bet on baseball.
He lied to Roger Kahn, co-author of the 1989 book Pete Rose: My Story, when he
told Kahn that he had not bet on baseball.
He lied in his 1991 interview with Jane Pauley after being released from prison
when he stated, No way did I bet on baseball.
7
All relevant discovery requests and responses thereto are set forth verbatim in the
exhibits to this motion. See Local R. Civ. P. 26.1(b).
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He lied in his interview with Ira Berkow for Berkows article about him in The
New York Times, published on or about February 28, 1993, when he told Berkow
that he had not bet on baseball.
He lied on the Dan Patrick radio show on or about March 14, 2007 when he
stated, I bet on my team to win every night. 8
He lied in his interview with Rachel Nichols for the CNN show Unguarded,
which aired on or about August 1, 2014, when he stated, I never gambled as a
player.
He lied on the Michael Kay Show in or about April 2015 when, in response to the
question, Whats the truth, I mean, did you ever gamble as a player?, he stated,
Never bet as a player. Thats a fact.
He lied to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred when he told Manfred in 2015 that,
in the time period when he bet on the Reds, he bet on them to win every game. 9
8
In his decision rejecting Roses reinstatement application, MLB Commissioner Rob
Manfred explained why this was untrue:
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Ex. 14 (Dowds Fifth RFAs) Nos. 5-17. Rose has refused to admit or deny any of these lies. Ex.
Rose is seeking damages for mental anguish and suffering, claiming that after
Dowds sports radio interview, he was initially and has since remained frustrated, distraught,
upset, and distressed. Compl. 69, 92. Therefore, to be able to test Roses assertion, Dowd
asked him to produce all documents and ESI relating to any mental health treatment that he has
received. Ex. 22 (Dowds First RFPs) No. 6. In addition, during the meet and confer process,
Dowd asked Rose to execute releases to enable Dowd to subpoena records directly from mental
health providers that have treated or evaluated Rose. Rose has refused to produce the requested
documents or to execute the requested releases. Ex. 23 (Roses Corrected Response to Dowds
III. ARGUMENT
A. The Requests About Having Sex with Teenagers Are Relevant, and There Is
No Justification for Refusing to Answer Them.
Even though defamation is a state law tort, Rose, as a public figure, must satisfy
two First-Amendment-mandated elements to prevail. First, Rose must prove that Dowd made
his radio statement with actual maliceor, in other words, that Dowd kn[ew] that it was
false, in fact entertained serious doubts as to [its] truth, or had a high degree of awareness of
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[its] probable falsity. Masson v. New Yorker, 501 U.S. 496, 510 (1991). Second, Rose must
prove that Dowds statement was materially false. See Air Wisc. Airlines Corp. v. Hoeper, 134
S. Ct. 852, 861 (2014) ([W]e have required more than mere falsity to establish actual malice:
The falsity must be material. (quoting Masson, 501 U.S. at 517)). This inquiry requires a
comparison between the reputational harm caused by the statement at issue and the
reputational harm that the truth would cause. Id. at 863. Specifically, to be materially false,
Dowds statement must be likely to cause reasonable people to think significantly less favorably
about [Rose] than they would if they knew the truth. Brokers Choice of America, Inc. v. NBC
Universal, Inc., 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 11490, at *37 (10th Cir. June 28, 2017) (internal
quotation marks omitted); see also Haynes v. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 8 F.3d 1222, 1228 (7th Cir.
All of the information that Rose refuses to provide about having sex with
teenagers is relevant to Dowds defense on this material falsity element. Rose claims that
statutory rape and, according to Rose, Rose never did any such thing. Compl. 60-61, 63.
To counter Roses position, Dowd intends to argue that Rose cannot prove that what Dowd said
is materially false because Dowds statement is not likely to cause reasonable people to think
significantly less favorably about [Rose] than they would if they knew the truth about Roses
sexual conduct with teenagers. Brokers Choice, No. 15-1386, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 11490, at
*37. To be able to make this argument as effectively as possible, Dowd needs Rose to provide
the requested informationincluding identifying anyone who was or may have been under 18
when Rose first engaged in sexual conduct with her and admitting or denying that he had sex
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with Doe at the address of the house in Cincinnati that Doe references in her Declaration. See
Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1) (Parties may obtain discovery regarding any nonprivileged matter that
is relevant to any partys claim or defense and proportional to the needs of the case . . . .).
Rose has objected to Dowds requests based on a state and federal constitutional
right of privacy. See Ex. 17 (June 13, 2017 Johnson Email and Attachment); Ex. 18 (Roses
Responses to Dowds Fifth RFAs) Nos. 1-3; Ex. 19 (Roses Responses to Dowds Fourth RFAs)
Nos. 1-8. This is absurd. Rose chose to file this lawsuit and, by doing so, put at issue any sexual
relationships he may have had with teenagers. He thus waived any supposed right of privacy
Rose also refuses to answer the interrogatories about Western Hills High School
Dowds first set of interrogatories were comprised of 25 when you include all discrete
subparts. Ex. 20 (May 10, 2017 Johnson Email); see Fed R. Civ. P. 33(a)(1) (Unless otherwise
stipulated or ordered by the court, a party may serve on any other party no more than 25 written
Interrogatory No. 1quoted in full at pages 5-6 aboveas fifteen separate interrogatories. Ex.
11 (Dowds First Interrogatories) No. 1; see also Ex. 2 (Roses Responses to Dowds First
Interrogatories) No. 1.
To evaluate arguments such as Roses, courts within the Third Circuit have used
the related question test, which provides that subparts that are logically or factually subsumed
11
Roses privacy assertion is also undercut by the fact that, when it comes to his sex
life, he has been anything but private. See, e.g., media reports quoted at page 4 above; Pete Rose
with Rick Hill, My Prison Without Bars 258 (2004) (excerpt attached as Exhibit 24) (Most folks
know about my reputation with the ladiestemptations that were just too plentiful and too hard
to resist.); https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUkLwbF52zE, beginning at 3:55 (discussing his
sex life in graphic detail on the Mar. 10, 2010 Howard Stern Show).
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within and necessarily related to the primary question should not be treated as separate
interrogatories. Engage Healthcare Commcns., LLC v. Intellisphere, LLC, No. 12-787, 2017
U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83068, at *10 (D.N.J. Feb. 10, 2017); see also Pulchalski v. Franklin Cty., No.
15-1365, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1151, at *9 (M.D. Pa. Jan. 5, 2017) ([A] subpart is discrete
question posted by the basic interrogatory.). In Interrogatory No. 1, Dowd asks Rose,
Describe your sexual relationship with [Jane Doe], and then lists fourteen pieces of
information about that relationship that [a] full answer to this interrogatory should include. Ex.
11 (Dowds First Interrogatories) No. 1. Those pieces of information are thus, on their face,
logically [and] factually subsumed within and necessarily related to the primary
question. Engage Healthcare, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83068, at *10. Therefore, Interrogatory
Rose refuses to admit or deny that he lied on his tax returns, that he lied when he
repeatedly said he did not bet on baseball, or that he lied when, after finally admitting to having
bet on baseball as a manager, he repeatedly said that he bet on his team to win every night and
12
If the Court agrees with Roses counting method, Dowd asks that it grant the parties
leave to serve twenty-five additional interrogatories, in light of this cases scope and the
importance of eliciting recollections that are as precise as possible regarding events that occurred
decades ago. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 33(a)(1) (Leave to serve additional interrogatories may be
granted to the extent consistent with Rule 26(b)(1) and (2).). The two Western Hills High
School interrogatories use the same language as Interrogatory No. 1 in explaining what
information should be included in a description of a sexual relationship . See Ex. 16 (Dowds
Second Interrogatories) Nos. 1-2. If the Court determines that this language constitutes discrete
subparts, Dowd will strike it from the Western Hills interrogatories. In addition, while Rose
appears to count Interrogatory No. 2 as four separate interrogatories, it only should count as two
because Dowd has withdrawn it and replaced it with the two streamlined interrogatories quoted
at page 7 above.
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that he did not bet on baseball as a player. Ex. 18 (Roses Responses to Dowds Fifth RFAs)
Nos. 5-17. His justification for his refusal: his answers might not be admissible at trial. Id. Yet
Rule 26(b)(1) makes clear that [i]nformation within th[e] scope of discovery need not be
admissible in evidence to be discoverable. Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1). Again, what matters is that
the requested information is relevant to Dowds defense and proportional to the needs of the
case. Id.
Rose claims that he never committed statutory rape. Compl. 61. He also
maintains that Does statement that he had sex with her when she was under 16which would
be a crime even in Ohiois false. Ex. 2 (Roses Responses to Dowds First Interrogatories) No.
1; Ohio Rev. Code Ann. 2907.04. Roses history of lying when the truth would hurt him is
relevant to assessing whether he is telling the truth todayabout statutory rape in general and
Doe in particular. Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1). Simply put, Dowd intends to show that because
Rose has lied so extensively in the past, it would defy logic to believe him (and thereby
disbelieve Doe) here. And Rose cannot argue that Dowds requests are disproportional to the
needs of the case, as it would take Rose only a few minutes to answer them. Fed. R. Civ. P.
26(b)(1). Rose should thus be required to admit or deny the significant lies about which Dowd
has asked him. Indeed, even if admissibility were the proper inquiry at this stagewhich it is
notspecific instances of Rose lying should be admissible at trial for, at the very least, cross-
examination of Rose. See Fed. R. Evid. 608(b) (Except for a criminal conviction under Rule
609, extrinsic evidence is not admissible to prove specific instances of a witnesss conduct in
order to attack or support the witnesss character for truthfulness. But the court may, on cross-
examination, allow them to be inquired into if they are probative of the character for truthfulness
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C. The Requests About Roses Mental Health History Are Relevant, and There
Is No Justification for Refusing to Answer Them.
baseball, Rose explained that he has three psychological conditions: pathological gambling,
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and oppositional defiance disorder. Pete Rose with Rick
Hill, My Prison Without Bars, at ix-xii (2004) (excerpt attached as Exhibit 24). In addition, in
connection with his 2015 reinstatement application, Rose submitted to MLB a report prepared by
Dr. Timothy Fong, Co-Director of the UCLA Gambling Studies Program and Director of the
UCLA Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship. See Ex. 21 (Manfred Decision) 1 (referencing Dr.
Fongs report). Again, Rose seeks damages for alleged ongoing mental anguish and suffering,
claiming that, due to Dowds radio statement, he was initially and has since remained frustrated,
distraught, upset, and distressed. Compl. 69, 92. To be able to defend against this claim as
effectively as possible, Dowd needs Roses mental health records. Those records may help
establish that pre-existing and uncontrolled mental health conditionsnot Dowds radio
statementcaused Roses alleged ongoing mental anguish, suffering, and distress. This seems
particularly likely given that, according to Commissioner Manfreds decision rejecting Roses
application for reinstatement, Rose has never seriously sought treatment for either of the two
medical conditions described so prominently in his 2004 book and in Dr. Fongs report. Ex. 21
(Manfred Decision) 3. 13 Moreover, because it was apparently prepared shortly before or after
Dowds sports radio interview, Dr. Fongs report could help establish Roses psychological state
13
Due to confidentiality concerns, Commissioner Manfred did not disclose the details
of Dr. Fongs report. Ex. 21 (Manfred Decision) 1. Therefore, it is unclear which two of Roses
mental health conditions Dr. Fong discussed.
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Case 2:16-cv-03681-PBT Document 28 Filed 07/31/17 Page 23 of 27
to subpoena them directly from the providers, Rose has invoked the psychiatrist-patient and
doctor-patient privileges. Ex. 23 (Roses Corrected Response to Dowds First RFPs) No. 6. But
as with his sexual relationships with teenagers, Roses own complaint puts his mental health at
issue. He has thus waived any privilege that otherwise may have attached to the records that
Dowd seeks. See McKinney v. Del. Cty. Meml Hosp., No. 08-1054, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS
23625, at *9-20 (E.D. Pa. Mar. 20, 2009) (Tucker, J.) (holding that plaintiff waived privilege by
seeking emotional distress damages); see also Frazier v. Shinseki, No. 12-1035, 2014 U.S. Dist.
LEXIS 55254, at *3-6 (M.D. Pa. Apr. 22, 2014) (same); Furey v. Wolfe, No. 10-1820, 2012 U.S.
Dist. LEXIS 34992, at *4-15 (E.D. Pa. Mar. 15, 2012) (same). As this Court put it in ordering a
plaintiff either to produce a signed authorization for the release of her past and present mental
health records or to have her claim for emotional distress stricken, allowing a plaintiff to hide
behind a claim of privilege when that condition is placed directly at issue in the case would
simply be contrary to the most basic sense of fairness and justice. McKinney, 2009 U.S. Dist.
LEXIS 23625, at *14 (internal quotation marks and alteration omitted). Therefore, this Court
cannot allow [Rose] to assert a claim for emotional distress damages and simultaneously
disallow [Dowd] to discover information into the possible causes of that stress. Id. at *18. 14
14
Rose also has waived privilege as to Dr. Fongs report by submitting it to MLB, a third
party, with his reinstatement application. See United States v. Ellis, No. 02-687-1, 2003 U.S.
Dist. LEXIS 9729, at *24-25 (E.D. Pa. May 8, 2003) (psychiatrist-patient privilege waived
where defendant provided information at issue to law enforcement). Dowd would not object,
however, if Rose were to designate any of the requested mental health records as confidential
under the Stipulated Protective Order governing discovery in this case.
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Case 2:16-cv-03681-PBT Document 28 Filed 07/31/17 Page 24 of 27
IV. CONCLUSION
(a) provide full and complete responses to the two interrogatories that
as Exhibit 13;
(b) admit or deny Requests Nos. 1-3 in Defendants Fifth Set of Requests for
(c) admit or deny Requests Nos. 1-8 in Defendants Fourth Set of Requests
for Admissions, dated May 12, 2017 and attached as Exhibit 15;
Defendants Second Set of Interrogatories, dated April 10, 2017 and attached as Exhibit 16;
(e) admit or deny Requests Nos. 5-17 in Dowds Fifth Set of Requests for
(f) produce any records regarding any mental health treatment that Plaintiff
(g) execute releases authorizing any mental health providers that have treated
Respectfully,
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Case 2:16-cv-03681-PBT Document 28 Filed 07/31/17 Page 25 of 27
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Case 2:16-cv-03681-PBT Document 28 Filed 07/31/17 Page 26 of 27
PETER ROSE, :
:
Plaintiff, :
:
v. : C.A. No. 2:16-cv-03681-PBT
:
JOHN DOWD, :
:
Defendant. :
Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(a)(1) and Local Rule of Civil
Procedure 26.1(f), I certify that I conferred in good faith with Plaintiffs counsel in an effort to
resolve the disputes discussed in this motion and that, after reasonable efforts, we were unable to
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I, Eli Segal, hereby certify that on July 31, 2017, Defendant John Dowds Motion
to Compel was filed electronically and served on all counsel of record via ECF: