Mealey's Discovery
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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.
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April 20, 2023
Florida Federal Magistrate Grants Ex Parte Application Related To Reinsurance Row
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Finding that the statutory requirements are met and “the discretionary factors favor granting the Application,” a federal magistrate judge in Florida granted an insurer’s ex parte application for judicial assistance to obtain evidence for use in a foreign proceeding involving an alleged reinsurance policy.
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April 19, 2023
Asbestos-Talc Defendant Denies Need For 2nd Deposition Of Representative
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — Whittaker Clark & Daniels Inc. (WCD) says in an opposition to a motion to compel a second deposition that its corporate representative answered relevant questions during his deposition but was under no obligation to discuss company financials or other information subject to a protective order and that the plaintiff is attempting to circumvent the close of discovery by seeking additional evidence.
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April 19, 2023
Pa. Supreme Court Won’t Hear Homebuilders’ Appeal Of Document Production Issue
HARRISBURG, Pa. — In an April 18 per curiam order, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied a homebuilder’s petition to appeal an appellate court opinion upholding a trial court’s finding that the builder’s spreadsheets, containing lists of customers who complained of water intrusion in their homes, were not privileged or protected attorney work product because the documents were factual in nature and prepared by the companies’ operations department, not their legal counsel.
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April 19, 2023
In Minnesota Trademark Row, Judge Sanctions ‘Contumacious’ Conduct
MINNEAPOLIS — A trademark infringement and dilution plaintiff’s request for sanctions against a former licensee and his company was granted April 18 by a federal judge in Minnesota, who said the defendants “contumacious, repeated and dilatory conduct” warrants entry of a default judgment.
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April 18, 2023
South Carolina Court Affirms Asbestos Verdict, Expert Admissions, Sanction
ANDERSON, S.C. — Medical causation experts’ cumulative dose testimony “easily meets the legal standard for reliability,” a South Carolina appeals court said in affirming a $5,125,000 verdict while saying it worried that lifting sanctions against Fisher Controls International LLC would sanction the asbestos defendant’s evasive discovery maneuvers.
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April 14, 2023
McDonald’s Granted Protective Order In AI Voiceprint Class Lawsuit
CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois on April 13 granted a motion for a protective order sought by McDonald’s Corp. in a putative class complaint alleging that the franchisor violates Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by collecting voiceprints to place drive-through orders.
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April 14, 2023
Magistrate Judge Quashes Subpoenas Seeking Testimony From Asbestos Insurers
NEW ORLEANS — Subpoenas seeking trial testimony generally name insurance companies rather than specific representatives and improperly came after the close of discovery, a federal magistrate judge in Louisiana said in granting motions to quash.
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April 14, 2023
Additional Discovery On Social Security Disability Income Benefits Not Warranted
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A disability insurer is not entitled to additional discovery regarding a dependent’s monthly Social Security disability payments because the disability claimant provided the insurer with documentation that she has only one dependent who is receiving Social Security benefits based on the claimant’s disability, a California federal judge said.
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April 13, 2023
Judge: Reconsideration Not Vehicle To Challenge Agency Asbestos Testimony Ruling
MISSOULA, Mont. — The correct way to challenge an order compelling testimony from government agencies is by moving to quash the subpoenas and not in a motion for reconsideration of the ruling ordering the testimony, a federal judge in Montana said in a False Claims Act (FCA) case involving asbestos-related Medicare claims filed under a special Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) program.
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April 11, 2023
Tennis Player, Association To Confer On Discovery Privacy In Sex Assault Lawsuit
ORLANDO, Fla. — United States Tennis Association Inc. (USTA) and a player suing it over a sexual assault by her coach were ordered to confer on how to address privacy concerns in documents the plaintiff seeks in discovery, with a Florida federal magistrate judge giving the parties two weeks to file a stipulated confidentiality agreement.
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April 11, 2023
Some Deposition Prep Documents Deemed Privileged In DOL FLSA Dispute
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — The defendant in a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) lawsuit brought against it by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) did not establish that most of the documents reviewed by witnesses prior to their depositions were not protected by privilege, a New York federal magistrate judge said, while concluding that a few documents were used to refresh a deponent’s memory and needed to have some of the redactions removed.
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April 11, 2023
Judgment Hearing Set, Sanctions Briefs Filed In Google Antitrust Suits
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge in an April 10 order set the agenda for an April 13 hearing over summary judgment motions brought by Google LLC in consolidated suits brought against it by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and a group of states over its purported monopolization of the internet search engine market.
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April 06, 2023
Fracking Company Says Judge Should Compel Production Of Documents In Well Dispute
WHEELING, W.Va. — On April 5, a hydraulic fracturing company moved in West Virginia federal court seeking to compel landowners to comply with a previous agreement between the parties under which the landowners would produce a privilege log of documents and communications in a dispute over abandoned wells.
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April 06, 2023
Investor Not Harmed By Court’s Denial Of Discovery, Panel Rules
ATLANTA — A federal district court did not err in denying man’s request for discovery in a lawsuit alleging that companies mismanaged a long-term incentive plan in which the man invested because the man was provided with an opportunity to conduct discovery when the companies moved for summary judgment, an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled in affirming.
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April 06, 2023
CERCLA Claims Tossed; Spoliation Sanctions Will Be Issued In New York
UTICA, N.Y. — Although stopping short of selecting a sanction, a federal judge in New York has agreed with defendants that spoliation sanctions are indeed warranted in a longstanding dispute over the cleanup of a former metal recycling plant.