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Mealey's Discovery

  • September 18, 2020

    Magistrate Orders Insurer To Respond To Discovery Requests In Hurricane Irma Suit

    FORT MYERS, Fla. — A federal magistrate judge in Florida on Sept. 15 granted insureds' motion to compel compliance with discovery and for sanctions in a breach of contract lawsuit arising from Hurricane Irma damage, finding that an award of expenses to the insureds is "just and appropriate" (William Bradley Bell, et al. v. Ace Insurance Company of the Midwest, No. 20-309 M.D. Fla., 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 164805).

  • September 17, 2020

    10th Circuit:  CERCLA Defendants Should Complete EPA's Records Request

    DENVER — A 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Sept. 16 affirmed a federal judge in Utah's ruling awarding partial summary judgment to the government and entering an injunction requiring defendant companies in a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act lawsuit to provide complete responses to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's requests for information about their corporate histories (United States v. United Park City Mines Co., et al., No. 18-4110, 10th Cir., 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 29445).

  • September 17, 2020

    Surgery Center Ordered To Complete, Correct Discovery In Arbitration Award Dispute

    BOISE, Idaho — Enumerating repeated failures by a surgical center to provide complete and accurate responses to post-judgment discovery in a dispute over an arbitration award, an Idaho federal judge on Sept. 14 granted two motions to compel by the center's former managing member in its efforts to execute a judgment in its favor, while denying the center's motion for a protective order (Twin Falls NSC LLC v. Southern Idaho Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, No. 19-9, D. Idaho, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 168764).

  • September 16, 2020

    Insurer Asked To Respond To Discovery In Coverage Suit Over $73.21M Verdict

    WILMINGTON, Del. — The operator of general acute care hospitals and its related entities on Sept. 15 ask the Delaware Superior Court to order a health care umbrella insurer to respond to discovery requests over its reinsurance segment in a coverage dispute regarding a $73.21 million verdict against one of the operator's entities in an underlying medical malpractice suit (Steadfast Insurance Company v. Community Health Systems, Inc., et al., No. N18C-11-127, Del. Super.).

  • September 14, 2020

    Domino's Seeks Blind Man's Phone, Computer In Website ADA Accessibility Suit

    LOS ANGELES — Because a blind man's claims against it under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) are based on the purported inaccessibility of its website and mobile app, Domino's Pizza LLC on Aug. 31 asked a California federal court to compel the plaintiff to produce any devices he may have used, along with responses and answers to interrogatories about his attempts to access the site and app (Guillermo Robles v. Domino's Pizza LLC, No. 2:16-cv-06599, C.D. Calif.).

  • September 11, 2020

    Theranos CEO Holmes To Get Government Psych Exam After Citing Her Mental Health

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge on Sept. 9 ordered former Theranos Inc. founder and CEO Elizabeth A. Holmes to sit for a two-day psychological and psychiatric evaluation by government experts after she told a California federal court that she intended to introduce expert evidence "relating to a mental disease or defect or any other mental condition" in her criminal conspiracy case (United States v. Elizabeth A. Holmes, No. 19-cr-258, N.D. Calif., San Jose Div.).

  • September 10, 2020

    Discovery On Franchisees Permitted In Suit Over Jimmy John's No-Poach Agreements

    EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — Finding that both sides "were in the wrong" in a disagreement over discovery related to newly revealed declarants in an employment antitrust putative class action, an Illinois federal judge on Sept. 4 partly granted Jimmy John's Franchise LLC's motion to stay third-party discovery on the declarants, while extending a deadline for the lead plaintiff to conduct additional discovery on some of the declarants without broadening the overall scope of discovery (Donald Conrad, et al. v. Jimmy John's Franchise, LLC, et al., No. 18-133, S.D. Ill., 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 162146).

  • September 09, 2020

    Judge Grants Jurisdictional Discovery In ERISA Case Against Bermuda Reinsurer

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge on Sept. 2 refused to dismiss an Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuit against a Bermuda reinsurance and insurance company for damages from the alleged failure to make $934 million in withdrawal liability payments and, instead, granted plan trustees' motion for jurisdictional discovery (Michael H. Holland, et al. v. Cardem Insurance Company Ltd., No. 19-02362, D. D.C.).

  • September 09, 2020

    Judge Unseals Expert Reports Over GSK's Objections In Avandia MDL

    PHILADELPHIA — Citing the common-law presumption of public access, the Pennsylvania federal judge presiding over the Avandia multidistrict litigation on Sept. 3 mostly denied a motion by GlaxoSmithKline LLC (GSK) to continue sealing expert reports that were subject to a 2008 discovery protective order in the long-running litigation, finding that the pharmaceutical firm did not establish that any injury would result in the documents being unsealed (In re:  Avandia Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, No. 07-1871, E.D. Pa., 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 161614).

  • September 02, 2020

    Facebook Opposes Gambia's Subpoena For Myanmar's Genocide-Related Posts

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an Aug. 28 surreply, Facebook Inc. asks a District of Columbia federal court to deny an application by the Republic of the Gambia for subpoenas for documents to be used in an International Court of Justice (ICJ) proceeding over purported genocide offenses by the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, arguing that the requested subpoena would violate the Stored Communications Act (SCA) (In re:  Application Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1782 [The Republic of the Gambia v. Facebook Inc.], No. 20-mc-36, D. D.C.).

  • September 01, 2020

    Homeowner Opposes Insurers', Bank's Bid To Stay Discovery In Kickback Scheme Suit

    NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A homeowner argues in an Aug. 26 opposition brief that a Connecticut federal court should reject a stay of discovery pending resolution of motions to dismiss allegations of a kickback scheme between insurers and a mortgage lender over force-placed insurance (FPI) for borrowers and, instead, the court should revisit application of the filed-rate doctrine (Robert R. Lewis v. M&T Bank Corp., et al., No. 20-552, D. Conn.).

  • August 28, 2020

    Oregon Court Affirms Asbestos Bankruptcy Trust Discovery Misconduct Ruling

    PORTLAND, Ore. — An Oregon appeals court on Aug. 26 said a judge properly ordered a new trial after finding misconduct tied to the failure to produce asbestos bankruptcy trust evidence in a trial that produced a $3.9 million verdict (Alice J. Golik v. CBS Corp., et al., No. 410, Ore. App.).

  • August 28, 2020

    Judge Won't Reconsider Order Of Discovery For Arbitration Against Lithuania

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge on Aug. 25 denied a motion for reconsideration of a discovery order filed by the targets of the discovery request who cited a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision issued the same day as the court's order in arguing that "controlling law" had changed and would prohibit discovery for use in a Russian entity's arbitration against the Republic of Lithuania (In re the Application of the Fund for Protection of Investor Rights in Foreign States, No. 19-mc-401, S.D. N.Y., 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 153808).

  • August 28, 2020

    Court Upholds Protective Order, Finds Jurisdiction In Illinois Asbestos Pump Case

    MOUNT VERNON, Ill. — A court has jurisdiction over Illinois residents' claim that a company sold asbestos-containing pumps to an employer in the state, but there is nothing improper in a protective order preventing the release of jurisdictional discovery, an Illinois court said Aug. 24  (Joel Linder, et al. v. A.W. Chesterton Co., et al., No. 17-L-1655, Ill. App., 5th Dist., 2020 Ill. App. LEXIS 561).

  • August 28, 2020

    Compelling Driver To Produce Cellphone Info Violates 5th Amendment, Panel Rules

    MIAMI — Because a criminal investigation into a fatal car crash is still active, a Florida appeals panel on Aug. 26 found that compelling a driver to provide information about his possible use of a cellphone at the time of the accident would violate his privilege against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, quashing a trial court's order requiring the driver to comply with the discovery requests in a related wrongful death suit (Roberto Aguila, et al. v. Marjorie Frederic, et al., No. 3D20-0726, Fla. App. 3rd Dist., 2020 Fla. App. LEXIS 12033).

  • August 27, 2020

    NSA To 4th Circuit:  State Secrets Privilege Bars Wikimedia's Surveillance Suit

    RICHMOND, Va. — A trial court correctly found that the state secrets privilege prevented Wikimedia Foundation from pursuing a lawsuit over the purported interception of its electronic communications as part of the National Security Agency's upstream surveillance program, the NSA and other government parties argue in Aug. 7 appellee brief to the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, asserting that there is no evidence that any of the appellant's communications were surveilled (Wikimedia Foundation v. National Security Agency, et al., No. 20-1191, 4th Cir.).

  • August 27, 2020

    Discovery, Stay Motions At Issue In WhatsApp's Suit Against Spyware Firm

    OAKLAND, Calif. — In an Aug. 24 reply brief supporting its motion for a protective order, an Israeli spyware developer tells a California federal court that the protective order "is urgently needed" for the disclosure of "very important information . . . that bears directly on" a motion to compel filed by plaintiff WhatsApp Inc. in computer fraud lawsuit against the spyware firm (WhatsApp Inc., et al. v. NSO Group Technologies Limited, et al., No. 4:19-cv-07123, N.D. Calif.).

  • August 27, 2020

    CertainTeed Debtor Seeks Garlock-Like Probe For Evidence Of Claimant Fraud

    CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Chapter 11 debtor DBMP LLC on Aug. 19 sought permission from a North Carolina federal bankruptcy court to subpoena several asbestos trusts to see if any of the 9,000 asbestos claimants who won verdicts or reached settlements with the debtor or its affiliate, CertainTeed Corp., defrauded the company by not revealing that they had also accepted settlements from the trusts — a discovery tactic used successfully in the landmark Garlock Sealing Technologies bankruptcy case (In re DBMP LLC, No. 3:20-bk-30080, W.D. N.C. Bkcy.).

  • August 25, 2020

    Government Denied Warrant To Obtain Device IDs From Google In Theft Investigation

    CHICAGO — A warrant application by the government for a "geofence" to identify devices in the proximity of crimes being investigated did not meet the probable cause and particularity requirements of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, an Illinois federal magistrate judge found in a ruling that was unsealed Aug. 24, finding that the proposed warrant would give the government too much discretion to obtain the device and personal information of passersby unrelated to the crimes (In re Search of Information Stored at Premises Controlled by Google, No. 20-mc-392, N.D. Ill., 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 152712).

  • August 25, 2020

    Disability Insurer Must Provide More Information On Criteria For Awarding Bonuses

    NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana federal magistrate judge on Aug. 19 partially granted a disability claimant's motion to compel answers regarding the criteria used by a disability insurer to award bonuses to its employees after determining that the insurer's initial answer to the claimant's interrogatory was not adequate (Michael F. Adoue v. Paul Revere Life Insurance Co., No. 19-10500, E.D. La., 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 149953).