## Facts

- Ben DeFeo and Christopher McAboy were students at Rockhurst College in Kansas City, Missouri.
- DeFeo alleged that on March 28, 1999, while DeFeo stood in the front yard of McAboy’s residence, McAboy—allegedly intoxicated—negligently drove a vehicle into DeFeo, causing injury.
- DeFeo sought compensatory and punitive damages.
- Rockhurst’s Safety and Security Department investigated the incident, and the matter led to college disciplinary proceedings involving McAboy.
- During discovery, DeFeo subpoenaed Rockhurst for documents relating to the incident, including investigative reports, correspondence, and affidavits.
- Rockhurst submitted 42 documents to the court under seal rather than directly producing them to the parties.
- McAboy moved for a protective order barring disclosure, arguing FERPA protected the records and that many documents concerned unrelated incidents.

## Issues

1. Whether FERPA (20 U.S.C. § 1232g) creates an evidentiary privilege that bars disclosure of student disciplinary and related records in civil discovery.
2. Whether the subpoenaed materials should be limited due to lack of relevance and privacy interests, including where documents address incidents unrelated to the alleged March 1999 event.

## Decision

- The court denied the motion for a protective order to the extent it asserted FERPA as a categorical bar to disclosure.
- The court ordered production of relevant Rockhurst materials, subject to limitations to protect privacy and restrict use.
- The court required tailored protections, including redaction of personally identifying information and confidentiality restrictions, and limited disclosure of materials unrelated to the incident at issue.

## Legal Principles

- FERPA is a federal funding statute regulating institutional disclosure practices; it does not create a student-held evidentiary privilege that automatically blocks discovery.
- FERPA’s allowance for disclosure pursuant to judicial order supports court-ordered production in litigation, provided appropriate protective measures are used.
- Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26, courts may permit discovery of relevant educational or disciplinary records while mitigating privacy harms through redaction, confidentiality orders, and limiting production to incident-related materials.

## Conclusion

In a pretrial discovery dispute in a negligence and punitive damages action, the court held that FERPA does not establish an evidentiary privilege and therefore did not justify withholding college investigative and disciplinary records; instead, the court permitted discovery of relevant materials with redactions, confidentiality restrictions, and limits aimed at excluding unrelated information and protecting nonparty student privacy.


DeFeo v. McAboy, 260 F. Supp. 2d 790 (E.D. Mo. 2003)