Mealey's Discovery
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August 02, 2023
Apple Wants Confidential Materials Sealed In Privacy Suit Over Siri Recording
OAKLAND, Calif. — Responding to a motion to consider whether certain deposition materials should be sealed, which was filed by the plaintiffs in a putative class action over purported unauthorized recording by Apple Inc.’s Siri, Apple asked a California federal court to seal the items because they contain “highly confidential and proprietary sensitive information” about the digital personal assistant.
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August 01, 2023
Washington Appeals Court Reverses Medicaid Data Order In Opioid Case
SEATTLE — The Washington Court of Appeals on July 31 reversed a state trial court’s ruling allowing the release of certain information about opioid-related Medicaid claims to defendants Johnson & Johnson and Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc.
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August 01, 2023
Judge Won’t Expedite Briefing In Discovery Dispute Between AI Cofounders
SAN FRANCISCO — Although the cofounder of an artificial intelligence program adequately explains “what otherwise might appear to be an undue delay,” he has not demonstrated the need for expedited briefing on early discovery, a federal judge in California said July 31 in denying his motion.
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July 31, 2023
Pacing, Discovery At Issue In Artificial Intelligence $100 Share Sale Case
SAN FRANCISCO — Parties to a suit claiming that the cofounder of artificial intelligence Stability AI was duped into selling billions of dollars in shares for $100 briefed the need to expedite the case, limited early discovery, with the defendant saying in a July 28 brief that the plaintiff unjustly delayed filing the case and seeks to escape federal rules.
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July 28, 2023
FCA Suit Relator May Depose Officers But Cannot Compel Litigation Hold Notices
INDIANAPOLIS — A health care firm’s former employee, who alleges that his termination was due to whistleblowing, may conduct targeted depositions of certain company representatives regarding spoliation of evidence, an Indiana federal magistrate ruled, granting in part a motion to compel production by the relator in a qui tam action over alleged False Claims Act (FCA) violations, while denying his request to compel production of the litigation hold notices the company issued to employees.
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July 27, 2023
Prisoner Class Must Respond To Mandamus Petition In Vaccine Distribution Case
SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ordered prisoners suing over Oregon’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout to file an answer to the state’s petition for a writ of mandamus, which challenges a trial court’s order compelling the deposition of the former governor.
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July 27, 2023
Emergency Stay Bid Withdrawn From U.S. Supreme Court In Microcaptive Info Dispute
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Citing an agreement with the United States, the Delaware Department of Insurance (DDOI) on July 26 withdrew an emergency application it filed in the U.S. Supreme Court less than a week earlier in the corporate privacy case involving microcaptive insurance company information.
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July 27, 2023
Named Plaintiff In Ford Transmission Class Case Sanctioned For Trade-In
CHICAGO — A named plaintiff in a consolidated putative class lawsuit accusing Ford Motor Co. of selling and leasing certain F-150 trucks with defective transmissions breached his preservation duty when he traded in his vehicle with no notice to Ford, a federal judge in Illinois ruled, granting the vehicle maker’s motion for sanctions and dismissing that plaintiff’s claims.
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July 25, 2023
Covington Must Disclose Some Clients’ Names To SEC In Response To Subpoena
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission is entitled to have access to the names of certain clients of Covington & Burling LLP whose material nonpublic information (MNPI) was accessed during a cyberattack, a District of Columbia federal judge ruled July 24, partly granting the SEC’s motion to enforce the subpoena, while trimming the number of clients from a list of 298 to just seven that were deemed relevant to the commission’s investigation.
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July 24, 2023
Parties To AI Image Discovery Spat Detail Dispute Over Jurisdiction
WILMINGTON, Del. — Parties to a federal court case in Delaware filed letter briefs over a discovery dispute involving allegations that an artificial intelligence company is withholding evidence about jurisdiction and the relationship between its United Kingdom and Delaware entities that goes directly to the alter ego allegations.
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July 24, 2023
In Antitrust Action Over Sham Patent Litigation, Document Production Ordered
PHILADELPHIA — Upon in camera review of 211 privileged and/or work product documents related to sham patent litigation, a federal judge in Pennsylvania has ordered AbbVie Inc. and Besins Healthcare Inc. (AbbVie, collectively) to produce nearly 20 exhibits to plaintiffs in an action alleging antitrust violations by the drugmakers.
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July 21, 2023
Judge Adopts Fees Ruling, Finding Lawyers Never Complied With Court Orders
BALTIMORE — A federal judge in Maryland said she agreed “wholesale” with a magistrate judge’s conclusion that much of the litigation over asbestos case referral fees could have been avoided had the defendant simply complied with the court’s discovery order.
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July 19, 2023
Party Details Dispute Over Jurisdiction, Alter Ego In AI Image Discovery Spat
WILMINGTON, Del. — An artificial intelligence company is withholding evidence about jurisdiction and the relationship between its United Kingdom and Delaware entities that goes directly to the alter ego allegations, an image company told a federal judge in Delaware on July 18.
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July 19, 2023
3rd Circuit Won’t Stay Mandate In Case Over Delaware Microcaptive Info
PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel that ruled against the Delaware Department of Insurance (DDOI) in a case the panel said “pits Delaware’s authority to protect corporate privacy against the power of the IRS” on July 18 denied DDOI’s motion to stay the mandate pending an intended certiorari petition.
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July 18, 2023
Florida Appeals Court: Trial Court Must Finalize Pelvic Mesh Discovery Order
MIAMI — A Florida state appeals court has granted a petition for mandamus compelling a state trial court to enter an appealable final judgment in a pelvic mesh discovery lawsuit.
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July 18, 2023
Opioid MDL Judge OKs Plaintiffs’ Access To Updated DEA Drug Database
CLEVELAND — The Ohio federal judge overseeing the opioid multidistrict litigation has granted a motion by the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee (PEC) to enforce a subpoena on the Drug Enforcement Administration to produce updated opioid drug distribution data from the agency’s ARCOS data base, saying it is relevant to pending litigation.
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July 13, 2023
Mesothelioma Plaintiff Opposes Blood Draw, Genetic Testing
LOS ANGELES — Plaintiffs in a mesothelioma case urged a California court to deny a motion seeking a blood draw for genetic testing, saying the court should reject the motion on procedural grounds and that the defendants overstate the role of a BAP1 genetic mutation.
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July 13, 2023
Company: Asbestos Lawyer’s Complaint Against Former Firm Should Be Public
LOS ANGELES — A California trial court correctly unsealed a complaint and had the power to order production of an unredacted version involving allegations that a law firm suborned perjury from one of its asbestos clients, a company says in a reply brief, calling the lawyer and the firm he sued for wrongful termination “strange bedfellows.”
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July 12, 2023
Deepwater Horizon Plaintiff Denied Bid To Obtain Clawed Back Item From BP
NEW ORLEANS — A man bringing claims against BP Exploration & Production Inc. and BP America Production Co. (BP, collectively) pursuant to the Deepwater Horizon medical settlement agreement (MSA) saw his motion to compel production of a confidential document from another case denied, with a Louisiana federal judge declining to override of other court’s protective order.
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July 12, 2023
Lowe’s Avoids Sanctions Over Deposition, Deadlines In Personal Injury Suit
EL PASO, Texas — A customer of Lowe’s Home Centers LLC failed to establish that he was entitled to sanctions for the home supply chain’s purported failure to comply with a discovery order or to provide a corporate officer for deposition, a Texas federal magistrate judge ruled, finding that the personal injury plaintiff did not meet its burden to show that sanctions were warranted.
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July 12, 2023
Former Law Professor’s Employer Argues Against High Court Review Of Sanctions
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A former law professor’s pro se petition for a writ of certiorari seeking review of sanctions and other appellate orders in a race bias lawsuit should be denied as none of the criteria necessary has been met, the professor’s former employer argues in an opposition brief filed in the U.S. Supreme Court.
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July 11, 2023
Subpoenas Issued In $9.8M Life Policy Row Related To Alleged Fraudulent Birthdate
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge granted a securities intermediary’s request to subpoena federal and state agencies in its breach of contract suit against a life insurer for failure to pay a $9.8 million death benefit, finding that the insured’s actual birthdate is “relevant” to the denial of coverage regarding the insured’s alleged fraud as to “misstatement of age.”
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July 11, 2023
Asbestos Firm: Motion Ignores ‘Indefensible’ Conduct At Heart Of Sanctions
BALTIMORE — Unable to recast “indefensible” conduct, lawyers hit with more than $1 million in fees and costs for litigation misconduct simply take a magistrate judge’s words out of context and argue that he mischaracterized their arguments, a law firm told a federal court in Maryland overseeing a dispute over asbestos trust referral fees.
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July 10, 2023
Judge Denies Sanctions Despite Counsel’s ‘False Statement’ About Asbestos Expert
PHOENIX — While counsel’s representations about a discovery dispute were “simply not accurate,” a judge in Arizona said he would not impose sanctions on the expert witness who refused to answer deposition questions or counsel, finding no bad faith and that the plaintiff’s concerns about the potential impact were “nonsense.”
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July 07, 2023
Insurer: Production Would Involve Millions Of Claims, Man Hours
TEXARKANA, Texas — A federal judge in Texas on July 6 gave a medical provider until July 21 to respond to an insurer’s motion for reconsideration challenging a ruling compelling production of records it said could potentially apply to all 21 million emergency reimbursement claims in Texas and require 1.4 million man hours.