Celebrity Divorce – Kevin Costner and Christine Baumgartner, Part Two

The divorce saga of Kevin Costner and Christine Baumgartner continues. As we already know, Baumgartner filed for divorce and a battle between the Hollywood duo ensued.

After many rounds of back-and-forth arguments over the couple’s $145 million California estate, it now appears Costner’s legal team has lodged new arguments regarding Baumgartner’s failure to admit or deny requests for admissions (RFAs) and to answer interrogatories. Costner’s team issued discovery for Baumgartner’s response a few months back. Costner sought to have Baumgartner respond to questions regarding their premarital agreement and her contentions as to the validity of the premarital agreement.

According to court documents, “Christine avoids answering RFAs by claiming she does not know what her contentions are.” Costner argues that Baumgartner avoids answering many of the RFAs by raising the attorney-client privilege and that the questions don’t seek attorney-client privileged information; rather, they seek to have her admit or deny factual representations she made within the premarital agreement.

Legal Team Updates

Costner’s legal team also argues that Baumgartner should pay the $14,237.50 in legal fees that he has incurred as a result of her “misuses of the discovery process.” They are seeking the payment of legal fees as a sanction due to their having to go back to Court to ask a judge to compel her response to the discovery.

In North Carolina, failure to make discovery and possible sanctions the Court may order as a result can be found in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1A-1, Rule 37. When filing a motion for order compelling discovery, a party can ask a judge to award their reasonable expenses incurred in obtaining the order, including attorney’s fees, unless the court finds that the opposition to the motion was substantially justified or that other circumstances make an award of expenses unjust. However, if the motion is denied, the moving party runs the risk of being ordered to pay the non-moving party’s reasonable expenses incurred in opposing the motion.

Discovery

Discovery is timely, costly, and oftentimes extensive for all parties involved. Despite this, it can provide a party with a better understanding of their opponent’s position in a lawsuit and is oftentimes necessary to prepare for litigation. The pending discovery motions of Costner and Baumgartner are currently set to be heard on September 6, 2023.