Mealey's Discovery
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May 11, 2023
Insurer Granted Summary Judgment In Autism Evidence-Based Insurance Coverage Case
MADISON, Wis. — A couple has not shown that an insurer’s decision not to cover certain autism spectrum disorder (ASD) treatments deviated from a plan’s evidence-based approach, that its standards were outdated or that it treated mental health treatments differently from similar medical or surgical treatments, a federal judge in Wisconsin said in granting summary judgment to the insurer.
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May 11, 2023
Parties Outline Discovery Dispute In Suit Against Reinsurer Over Settlement
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Parties in a breach suit involving an environmental losses settlement have outlined a discovery dispute for a New York federal magistrate judge, with insurers filing a May 10 letter responding to arguments a reinsurer made regarding allocation modeling documents and records of its key case committee.
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May 11, 2023
Judge Denies Attempt To Quash U.S. Agency Subpoenas In Asbestos Case
MISSOULA, Mont. — Two government agencies must produce witnesses for trial testimony after a federal judge overseeing a false claims act case alleging submission of fraudulent asbestos claims under a special Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) Medicare pilot program denied motions to quash subpoenas.
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May 09, 2023
Breach Of Contract Plaintiff May Not Claw Back Email With Waived Privilege
COLUMBUS, Ohio — An Ohio federal magistrate judge denied a plaintiff’s motion to strike an inadvertently submitted document because it failed to timely assert privilege in the document pursuant to a clawback agreement and federal law, thus resulting in waiver of any attorney-client privilege in the document.
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May 09, 2023
Federal Magistrate Signs Protective Order In Bobcat Wildfire Coverage Dispute
LOS ANGELES — A federal magistrate judge in California signed a stipulated protective order in a coverage dispute over underlying lawsuits arising from the Bobcat Wildfire after the parties announced that they did not resolve their dispute following court-ordered mediation.
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May 08, 2023
Talc Plaintiff Says Withdrawal Of Study Moots Discovery Attempts
NEW YORK — In a series of post-hearing letters, parties to an asbestos-talc case debated the importance and impact of the voluntary withdrawal of a study from the case and whether it mooted ongoing efforts at discovering the study participants’ identities.
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May 08, 2023
Magistrate Judge Compels Discovery From Israeli Investor In $2.3M Award Row
NEW YORK — A New York federal magistrate judge on May 5 granted the Republic of Guatemala’s motion to compel discovery from an Israel energy investor against which default judgment was previously entered confirming a Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) award for arbitration costs and attorney fees now worth more than $2.3 million, writing that sanctions could be issued if it fails to comply.
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May 05, 2023
Company Tells 2nd Circuit Judge Erred By Quashing Discovery For ICSID Tribunal
NEW YORK — An Italian company in an appellant brief tells the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that a judge misapplied recent U.S. Supreme Court precedent in quashing its subpoena seeking discovery for use before an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal, arguing that ICSID tribunals are “imbued” with “governmental authority.”
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May 04, 2023
Discovery On Fee Request In Dispute Over Copyrighted Beetles Art Partly Stayed
CHICAGO — Discovery in a copyright infringement dispute over two-dimensional nail polish artwork depicting The Beetles was stayed in part by a federal magistrate judge in Illinois on May 3.
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May 03, 2023
Magistrate Deems Interviews Privileged In FCA Suit Over 9-Year Medicare Fraud
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — A New York federal magistrate judge on May 2 denied skilled nursing facilities’ request for summaries of interviews in the government’s suit against the facilities and related parties for alleged violations of the federal False Claims Act (FCA) in submitting false claims to Medicare “for excessive rehabilitation services,” finding that though the work-product privilege does not prevent “limited disclosure” of the interviewees’ names, the interview summaries are protected by the privilege, to which no exception applies.
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May 03, 2023
Match Group’s Discovery, Seal Motions Denied In FTC Enforcement Action
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Match Group Inc. failed to establish that the Federal Trade Commission initiated an action to enforce a civil investigative demand (CID) with improper motives, a District of Columbia federal magistrate judge ruled, denying the dating website operator’s motion to conduct related discovery, while also denying the company’s motion to seal the proceedings in which the FTC seeks documents related to its investigation of the purported sharing of users’ pictures and information with a facial recognition firm.
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May 02, 2023
ACA Asbestos Program Suit Parties Parry Bid To Quash Subpoenas To U.S. Agencies
MISSOULA, Mont. — The United States says in a motion to quash that an agency already produced almost all the information two subpoenas seek and that further searches into whether a medical facility meets the criteria for “qualified physicians” under a special Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act program involving Libby, Mont., asbestos exposures “will simply waste time while yielding ever diminishing returns.” But in a joint response, the parties in the federal litigation in Montana say the subpoenas are not burdensome and that to the extent the answers to the subpoena questions are self-evident, the questions should be easy to answer.
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May 02, 2023
Relator’s Motion To Depose Actuaries Granted In FCA Suit Alleging False CMS Bids
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Kentucky federal magistrate judge granted a relator’s motion to depose actuaries in a False Claims Act (FCA) suit alleging that Humana Inc. knowingly submitted false bids to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), resulting in overpayment to Humana, finding that though the additional depositions “may prejudice Humana by diverting time and resources from trial preparation, the stakes in this litigation are substantial and the potential benefit of the discovery outweighs Humana’s burden.”
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May 02, 2023
Judge Orders Discovery Into Jurisdiction If Couple Makes Asbestos Product Link
LOS ANGELES — A couple never establishes a connection between a defendant’s asbestos-containing product that allegedly caused an injury and a product supplied to California, but should they do so, more discovery into the connection is warranted, a California judge said.
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May 01, 2023
Supreme Court Won’t Halt Unmasking Of Anonymous Online Roblox User
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Jane Doe user of the Roblox online gaming platform saw her petition for certiorari to block a defamation plaintiff’s subpoena to identify her denied by the U.S. Supreme Court on May 1, leaving unanswered a question about the correct standard of review to determine when such a subpoena violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution’s right to speak online anonymously.
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May 01, 2023
Supreme Court Won’t Take Up Petition Over Agency Records In FOIA Requests
WASHINGTON, D.C. — An investigative journalist’s questions over when a document is considered an “agency record” that is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) will go unheard by the U.S. Supreme Court, which denied the petition for certiorari in its May 1 order list.
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May 01, 2023
Deposition On Discovery Burden Ordered In Harriet Carter Data Collection Suit
PITTSBURGH — Granting in part a motion to compel discovery, a Pennsylvania federal judge found that the lead plaintiff in a putative class action over Harriet Carter Gifts Inc.’s purported data gathering was entitled to discovery about user information sent from the retailer’s website to a business partner, but citing uncertainty about whether it was burdensome, the judge ordered a deposition of a company representative to make that determination.
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May 01, 2023
Bid For Discovery Conference In Trademark, Copyright Row Denied In New York
NEW YORK — A dismissal in September 2022 of a counterclaim for copyright infringement means a plaintiff is not entitled to seek additional discovery on the claim, “presumably” in anticipation of a forthcoming request for attorney fees, a federal magistrate judge in New York ruled.
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April 28, 2023
Ford Launches Causation, Settlement Offset Challenges To Asbestos Verdict
GREENSBORO, N.C. — In a pair of motions, Ford Motor Co. tells a federal judge in North Carolina that the more than $6.8 million in settlement monies more than offsets the $275,000 plus interest judgment and that the plaintiff’s expert improperly assumed that brake dust was hazardous and mixed science on chrysotile asbestos and brake dust in concluding that exposure to friction products was a substantial factor in a man’s mesothelioma.
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April 26, 2023
3M Says Discovery Regarding Federal Contractor Defense In PFAS Case Improper
ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — The 3M Co. has filed a brief in Illinois federal court opposing jurisdictional discovery regarding its federal government contractor defense in a per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination case, arguing that discovery is not appropriate because removal is proper if “the averments in the notice of removal plausibly state a colorable federal defense.”
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April 26, 2023
Class Discovery Request Denied In Care Home Understaffing And Inadequate Care Suit
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Tennessee federal magistrate judge denied a motion for specified discovery items filed by estate representatives in consolidated putative class actions against nursing home facilities, alleging that understaffing resulted in residents receiving inadequate services, finding that the discovery requests are not sufficiently related to questions regarding class certification.
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April 24, 2023
3rd Circuit Rules Against Delaware Regulators In Case Over Microcaptive Info
PHILADELPHIA — Affirming a decision for the United States in a case that “pits Delaware’s authority to protect corporate privacy against the power of the IRS to enforce the tax laws of the United States,” a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on April 21 ruled that a threshold requirement for application of reverse-preemption under the McCarran-Ferguson Act (MFA) was not met.
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April 21, 2023
Supplemental Expert Reports Admissible In Asbestos-Talc Dispute, Justice Says
NEW YORK — Asbestos-talc defendant Colgate-Palmolive Co. has not shown that materials William Longo tested are different than the ones the company originally produced in discovery or that it is incapable of obtaining the materials through other means, a New York justice said in denying a motion to exclude supplemental reports or to compel discovery.
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April 21, 2023
Justice Affirms, But Limits Colgate’s Talc Sample Production Obligations
NEW YORK — Colgate-Palmolive Co. does not have to produce 23 talcum powder samples in an asbestos case from the 49 years that a woman was exposed to the products but must produce six samples from those years, a New York justice said in partly affirming a special master’s ruling.
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April 20, 2023
Government Gets Deadline Extensions In Tax Attorney’s Microcaptive Insurance Suit
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — In the two latest orders in a case involving a penalty related to microcaptive insurance companies, a Florida federal judge partly granted the government’s motion to push back the trial date and mostly rejected the plaintiff’s assertion of attorney-client privilege in a discovery dispute.