FRESNO (LN) — U.S. Magistrate Judge Christopher D. Brine issued the order on May 7, 2026, in a wage and hour lawsuit filed by Brittany Rains. The order resolves a discovery dispute the parties submitted to the court’s informal procedure.
Rains filed the putative class action in Kern County Superior Court on April 25, 2025, alleging wage and hour violations. Octapharma removed the case to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California on May 28, 2025.
The court ordered Octapharma to produce the data within 14 days. The company must provide contact information for all putative class members and timekeeping and payroll data for a 25% sample of relevant employees in electronic format, consistent with a sampling regime the parties had previously agreed upon.
Octapharma had requested a Belaire-West notice process, which would require notifying employees before their personal information is disclosed to opposing counsel. The court found the process unwarranted, citing the parties’ stipulated protective order and other considerations addressed on the record.
The court also ordered Octapharma to certify whether the produced data satisfies the business records exception to the hearsay rule under Federal Rule of Evidence 803(6).
Additionally, the court directed the parties to meet and confer regarding the size of the universe of wage statements to be produced, balancing the plaintiff’s need for the statements against the burden of searching for and collecting them.
The court noted that it could not resolve other discovery disputes referenced in the parties’ joint letter brief because they failed to provide copies of the propounded written discovery demands and responses in dispute.
The court warned that any noncompliance with the order may result in the imposition of sanctions.