Free Response to Discovery - District Court of Delaware - Delaware

Case 1:07-cv-00244-JJF

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF DELAWARE HENRY R. TAYLOR, JR., Plaintiff, v. KATHLEEN D. FELDMAN, et al., Defendants. : : : : : : : : :

C.A.No. 07-244-JJF

DEFENDANT JAMES FRAIZER'S RESPONSE TO PLAINTIFF'S FIRST COMBINED SET OF INTERROGATORIES AND REQUEST FOR PRODUCTION 1. With respect to your January 9, 2006 letter attached to the complaint at

D.I. 2 Exh. 18 did you state any cleanup, purging, or destruction of court records is done by a Superior Court staff member prior to storage in archives? If so, please provide any and all documents in tour poss. or control so as to identify the remaining contents of the April 18, 1985 court records and the name of the Superior Court staff member responsible for any cleanup of the file prior to storage in archives. RESPONSE: Yes, my January 9, 2006 Memorandum to you reports that

purging of Superior Court files would be performed by Superior Court personnel prior to the files being sent to Public Archives. I do not possess any documents that would be responsive to your request. 2. With respect to this very same letter at D.I. 2 Exh. 18 is it that you stated

current retention of transcripts of the Superior Court becomes a permanent part of the case files with archives in response to my December 12, 2005 letter? If so, please

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produce any and all documents in your poss. or control identifying whether the April 8, 1985 court records were kept or are currently kept in storage on computer disc, "electronic record", microfilm, microfiche, or any other information system with archives. RESPONSE: How long a particular document is retained depends on the

classification of the document under the retention schedule. Please refer to document produced as D00004. I do not possess any additional documents that would be

responsive to your request. 3. Is it the responsibility of every public official and employee to adequately

document the transaction of public business and the services and programs for which such persons are responsible and to retain and protect all public records in their custody in connection with archives? If so, please produce any and all documents in your poss. or control so as to identify the dates and times every public official or other superior court employee documented their transaction with respect to the exact disposition of the April 18, 1985 court records. RESPONSE: 4. Objection, this inquiry seeks a legal conclusion.

Is it that no office member or employee of any agency of this state can

destroy or dispose of any "Public record" without first having advised the Del. Public Archives of their nature and obtained its consent? If so, with respect to "archival record" as described in definition No.2 please produce any and all documents in your poss. or control identifying the name of the person and the nature and consent obtained from archives as well as the date the April 8, 1985 court records were destroyed. -2-

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RESPONSE: 5.

Objection, this inquiry seeks a legal conclusion.

Is it the duties and responsibility of Del. Public Archives to maintain a

retention schedule with respect to court records kept in storage? If so, please produce any and all documents in your poss. or control identifying the retention schedule describing the periods that were issued for storing the April 8, 1985 curt records with archives. RESPONSE: Objection, this inquiry seeks a legal conclusion. Without waiving such objection, please refer to documents produced as D000002-7 and 29 Del.C. chapter 5. 6. With respect to the attached letter to the complaint at D.I. 2 Exh. 17 do you

agree the April 8, 1985 court records were destroyed based on a twenty year policy? If so, as the designated custodian overseeing "public records" please produce any and all documents in your poss. or control identifying whether prior approval from Delaware Public Archives was granted for destruction of the original copies and duplication of the April 8, 1985 court records. RESPONSE: Objection, this inquiry is unintelligible. The document

referred to is a November 9, 2005 letter from Court Reporter O'Hare who is informing you that some of the transcripts you requested were no longer available. Independent of the requirements of the retention schedule, you waited more than twenty years to properly request and offer payment for them. 7. With respect to the documents to the January 14, 2008 response to my

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David G. Meddings were destroyed by staff of Delaware Public archives? If so, in regards to agency box No. 103 together with records center No. 35663 please produce any and all documents in your poss. or control so it can be determined whether the April 8, 1985 court records were in fact destroyed in those boxes. RESPONSE: Yes. Please refer to D000001. 8. Please produce any and all documents in your poss. or control identifying

how long the original Court Rep. Joel Leibow who is responsible for recording the April 8, 1985 court records was required to keep the stenographic notes of those proceedings in storage in connection with the retention schedule at archives. RESPONSE: Please refer to response to No. 5. /s/ Marc P. Niedzielski Marc P. Niedzielski, Bar I.D. 2616 Deputy Attorney General 820 N. French Street, 6th Floor Wilmington, DE 19801 (302) 577-8324 [email protected] Attorney for Defendants VERIFICATION I, James Frazier, have reviewed the response to Plaintiff's 1st Set of Combined Interrogatories and Request for Production Directed to Defendant James Frazier and verify under penalty of perjury pursuant to 28 USC § 1746 that the factual information contained in the responses are true and correct to the best of my information and belief. /s/ James Frazier James Frazier

DATED: August 7, 2008

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF DELAWARE HENRY R. TAYLOR, JR., Plaintiff, v. KATHLEEN D. FELDMAN, et al., Defendants. : : : : : : : : :

C.A.No. 07-244-JJF

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I certify that on the date indicated below I served two copies of the attached document by regular U.S. Mail on the following: Henry R. Taylor, Jr. SBI 00159464 1181 Paddock Road James T. Vaughn Correctional Center Smyrna, DE 19977

/s/ Marc P. Niedzielski Marc P. Niedzielski (2616) Deputy Attorney General Department of Justice 820 North French Street Carvel Building, 6th Floor Wilmington, DE 19801

DATED: August 7, 2008

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