Mealey's (October 27, 2020, 3:02 PM EDT) -- MUSKOGEE, Okla. — A trial court’s imposition of discovery sanctions against a nonparty in a breach of contract dispute over royalty payments for natural gas production failed to consider the mandatory duty under federal law to protect nonparties from significant discovery expenses, a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled Oct. 23 (Bigie Lee Rhea v. Apache Corp., et al., No. 19-7000 and 19-7066, 10th Cir., 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 33405)....