Mealey's Discovery
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December 15, 2023
Asbestos-Talc Company: With Little Burden, Crucial Third-Party Subpoena Allowable
RICHMOND, Va. — Producing a single document listing the 75 participants in a study on asbestos-talc causation imposes essentially no burden on a third-party medical provider, but the resulting information could provide “critical” evidence rebutting a man’s case, a talc company tells the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an opening brief.
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December 15, 2023
Plaintiffs’ Group Seeks To Compel Government To Produce Camp Lejeune Documents
RALEIGH, N.C. — The plaintiffs’ leadership group (PLG) in the multidistrict litigation over water contamination at U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune on Dec. 14 filed a brief in North Carolina federal court arguing that it should compel the U.S. government to produce documents pertaining to housing at the base, files held by a federal agency regarding the water at Camp Lejeune and reports indicating the identities of the personnel at the base. The PLG says the defendant’s “dilatory efforts threaten to upend the Court’s schedule.”
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December 14, 2023
Musk Tells High Court SEC Violated 1st Amendment Rights In Consent Decree
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a petition for a writ of certiorari, Elon Musk tells the U.S. Supreme Court that the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals erred when it affirmed that a consent order between him and the Securities and Exchange Commission could not be changed after he agreed to it, arguing that the SEC demanded that he waive his First Amendment rights as part of the agreement.
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December 14, 2023
Journalist Says Government Can’t Defend Withholding FOIA AI Documents
WASHINGTON, D.C. — No statutory or logical basis prevents the Department of Defense (DOD) from releasing 5,000 documents it concedes are responsive to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) inquiry about Google Inc.’s role in the Project Maven artificial intelligence program, a journalist tells a federal judge in the District of Columbia in a cross-motion and opposition to summary judgment.
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December 14, 2023
Israeli Law Raised In Feedback On Liquidation Plan For Vesttoo And Its Affiliates
WILMINGTON, Del. — In two Dec. 13 filings citing Israeli law and other issues, Vesttoo Ltd. and its affiliated debtors and a venture capital organization and individual that report significant related interests urge a Delaware federal bankruptcy court not to approve a Chapter 11 plan of liquidation and related arrangements as currently proposed.
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December 14, 2023
New York Justice Orders Production Of Plaintiff’s Talc Bottle Evidence
NEW YORK — A defendant must immediately produce and return to the plaintiff bottles of talc produced in discovery and cease any additional testing of the evidence, a New York justice said in an order granting a motion to compel.
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December 12, 2023
Magistrate Grants Motion To Compel In Bad Faith Suit Over $4M STOLI Policy
LINCOLN, Neb. — A Nebraska federal magistrate judge granted an insurer’s motion to compel the production of documents in a breach of contract and bad faith suit filed against the insurer by Wells Fargo Bank, the securities intermediary for an account holder of a purported stranger originated life insurance (STOLI) policy, finding that even if the insurer’s “conduct was inequitable,” the insurer is “entitled to discover evidence of” purported “inequitable conduct” by Wells Fargo.
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December 12, 2023
Revlon Says Discovery Request In Hair Relaxer Case Constitutes ‘Wasteful Conduct’
CHICAGO — Revlon Inc. and its affiliates, which were sued by women who say their hair relaxer products increase the risk of uterine and ovarian cancer because they contain phthalates, on Dec. 11 filed a response brief in Illinois federal court arguing that the court should deny the plaintiffs’ request to compel the production of materials shared with foreign regulators about non-U.S. hair relaxer products, contending that the request is “the latest example of Plaintiffs’ disorganized, wasteful conduct in these proceedings.”
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December 11, 2023
Parties Settle Emergency Care Compensation Case Featuring Discovery Scope Dispute
TEXARKANA, Texas — A federal judge in Texas on Dec. 8 issued an order canceling an upcoming status conference after parties reported that with the help of a mediator, they reached a confidential settlement resolving a freestanding emergency care compensation case in which the judge ordered discovery that the insurer warned could require 1.4 million man hours to fulfill.
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December 11, 2023
In Health Care Dispute, Michigan Federal Judge Denies Tribe’s Motion For Default
BAY CITY, Mich. — The Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan is not entitled to default judgment against a health insurance provider that allegedly violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by improperly administering two health insurance plans because the tribe failed to show that the providers’ failure to comply with discovery orders was due to willfulness, bad faith or fault, a Michigan federal judge found in denying the tribe’s renewed motion for default judgment.
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December 06, 2023
Judge Orders Briefs On Return Of Talc Bottles, Asbestos Plaintiff’s Use
NEW YORK — Parties must brief why a state court ruling in a separate case ordering the return of two bottles of talc produced in discovery does not violate the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution, and plaintiff Brian Gref should explain what he intends to do with the bottles after receiving them and why the court should not consider the evidence spoliated if the bottles are used as evidence in the separate case, a federal magistrate judge in New York said Dec. 5.
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December 04, 2023
Louisiana Court Revives Children’s Subpoena Into Widow’s Asbestos Settlements
NEW ORLEANS — A district court judge erred in granting a widow’s motion to quash a subpoena, a divided Louisiana appellate court said, concluding that the lower court failed to consider whether surviving children’s subpoena seeking information about a widow’s settlements in an asbestos case could lead to discoverable information.
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December 01, 2023
More Shareholders Join Suit Saying Target Pride Collection Led To Stock Drop
FORT MYERS, Fla. — A shareholder who previously filed a complaint alleging that Target Corp. made false statements about its LGBTQ+ Pride collection leading to a loss in stock value has filed an amended complaint, now joined by four additional plaintiffs including an investment adviser firm.
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December 01, 2023
Delaware Judge Denies Assignees’ Motion To Compel In Wrongful Death Coverage Suit
NEW CASTLE, Del. — A Delaware judge refused to compel a homeowners insurer to produce the claim file of a convicted murderer’s parents in a breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking coverage for an underlying wrongful death lawsuit that resulted in a $15,816,580 arbitration award, finding that the murderer’s assignees failed to demonstrate that the parents’ claim file is relevant to the coverage lawsuit.
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November 30, 2023
California Judge Orders Limited Asbestos-Talc Plaintiff Testimony On Genetics
OAKLAND, Calif. — A California judge said an asbestos-talc plaintiff must answer three questions posed to her at her deposition about genetic testing about which she refused to answer but that the defendants were not entitled to discovery of any and all information about genetic mutations from which the woman suffers.
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November 30, 2023
BMW Denied Access To Nonparties’ Cell Records, Texts In Product Liability Suit
ORLANDO, Fla. — The cell phone records and communications of three nonparties to a products liability suit against BMW of North America LLC are protected by the attorney-client and spousal privileges, a Florida federal magistrate judge ruled Nov. 29, granting a motion to quash BMW’s subpoenas that sought this information.
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November 30, 2023
Judge Rules On Discovery Request In FCA Suit Alleging Medicare Advantage Fraud
TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida federal judge on Nov. 29 granted in part a relator’s motion to compel discovery in a qui tam suit brought on behalf of the federal government, alleging that medical providers and Medicare Advantage (MA) insurers violated the federal False Claims Act (FCA) by conspiring together to increase risk adjustment scores of MA patients to obtain more federal funding than was owed, finding that because the fraud examples provided in the complaint do not show a purported scheme from 2014 continuing after 2020, discovery is limited to ending on the last day of 2020.
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November 30, 2023
In GitHub AI Copyright Suit, Parties Told To Meet, Confer Not Move To Compel
SAN FRANCISCO — While a California federal court mulls a second round of motions from OpenAI Inc., GitHub Inc. and Microsoft Corp. seeking dismissal of claims under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and California’s unfair competition law (UCL) related to allegations of improper attribution in the development of an artificial intelligence tool, a magistrate judge denied the plaintiffs’ motion to compel discovery responses in favor of a directive for the parties to meet and confer about discovery disputes.
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November 29, 2023
Judge Directs Production Of Reinsurance Info In Suit Over Fire Loss Coverage
NEW YORK — Rejecting an insurer’s argument that reinsurance information isn’t relevant to a breach of contract suit over fire-related claims, a New York federal judge on Nov. 28 directed that the requested information be produced unless there was another reason to withhold or redact it.
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November 29, 2023
Federal Judge OKs Revised Responses To RFAs In Breach Case Involving Reinsurance
NEW ALBANY, Ind. — Saying in part that the move “promotes the presentation of the merits of the action,” an Indiana federal magistrate judge allowed plaintiffs in a breach-of-contract case involving a quota share reinsurance agreement to amend their responses to requests for admissions (RFAs).
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November 28, 2023
Judge Says Motion To Compel Documents In Flint Tort Claims Act Case Is ‘Moot’
DETROIT — A federal judge in Michigan has denied a motion to compel production of unredacted versions of documents in litigation seeking $722.4 million under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) related to the Flint water crisis, ruling that the motion is moot because the U.S. government produced an unredacted version of one of the documents at issue, and the plaintiffs failed to comply with pre-filing requirements with regard to the other documents.
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November 27, 2023
In Miami Bridge Project Row, Federal Magistrate Judge Orders Production Of Reports
MIAMI — Minutes and monthly reports from the executive committee meetings of a joint venture in charge of constructing a major bridge in Miami, which has suffered construction setbacks, must be produced because the documents were prepared in the ordinary course of business pursuant to the terms of the joint venture agreement, a Florida federal magistrate judge found in granting a defendant-engineering firm’s motion to compel production.
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November 22, 2023
New York Plaintiff: Defendant Conducts Clandestine Testing On Talc Bottles
NEW YORK — A defendant refuses to return bottles of talc produced in discovery, instead performing clandestine testing on the evidence without disclosure or permission, a man tells a New York justice in a motion to compel.
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November 22, 2023
Plaintiff Loses Fiduciary Exception Dispute In ERISA Privilege Ruling
SAN DIEGO — Finding that fiduciary exception to attorney-client privilege does not apply to the communications in issue in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act case, a California federal magistrate judge ruled for the defendants in a discovery dispute involving a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO).
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November 21, 2023
Additional Exhibits In Water Case Do Not Support Sanctions, Government Says
HONOLULU — The U.S. government on Nov. 20 filed a brief in Hawaii federal court arguing that it should deny plaintiffs’ motion for discovery sanctions because they failed to meet the requirements for an adverse inference under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(e)(2) in their claim that the government destroyed text message electronic evidence related to drinking water contamination issues at a military facility that stores jet fuel.