Can a plaintiff's mother be compelled to reveal her medical history?

These consolidated writ matters arise out of a confrontation between a litigant's right to discovery and the privacy rights of a person not party to that litigation. Plaintiff in the underlying suit is a woman who claims injury as a result of her mother's ingesting the drug diethylstilbestrol (DES) while plaintiff was in utero. Named as defendants are a number of pharmaceutical companies who are alleged to have manufactured and distributed the drug, and against whom plaintiff[119 Cal.App.3d 541] seeks recovery on various grounds including strict products liability, negligence, breach of express and implied warranties, and enterprise liability. (Sindell v. Abbott Laboratories (1980) 26 Cal.3d 588, 163 Cal.Rptr. 132, 607 P.2d 924.) The issue in Jones v. Superior Court is whether or to what extent petitioner in that case, ¹ who is plaintiff's mother, can be compelled to reveal information concerning her medical history information which defendants

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Procedural Background