Can a plaintiff obtain personal information of a defendant without a court order?

There are several rules of law which pertain to the interest in obtaining such information. One is that, unless the information is pertinent to the merits of the claim or a sufficient case for punitive damages has been shown, the interest of a litigant in obtaining financial information is generally insufficient to overcome the interest in privacy. (See, Doak v. Superior Court (1968) 257 Cal.App.2d 825, 831-834, 65 Cal.Rptr. 193.) Civil Code section 3295 prohibits the pretrial discovery of the financial condition of a defendant without a court order.