Mealey's Discovery : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Discovery

October 11, 2023
Motion To Disqualify Opioid MDL Special Master For Reply-All Email Error Fails

CLEVELAND — The Ohio federal judge overseeing the opioid multidistrict litigation on Oct. 11 denied a motion filed by two pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) to disqualify the special master who was accused of bias after he inadvertently sent a personal email to the parties.
October 11, 2023
‘Near Acrobatic Attempts To Avoid Deposition’ In Tax Evasion Suit Halted

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — Scolding the partner of a deceased tax evasion defendant for “gamesmanship” and disregarding court orders, a New York federal magistrate judge denied the man’s motion to quash a deposition subpoena served on him by the U.S. government stating, that the movant’s “near acrobatic attempts to avoid the deposition must now come to an end.”
October 11, 2023
Trailer Owner Sanctioned For Incomplete Discovery In Personal Injury Suit

DALLAS — Acknowledging the “unusual circumstances” of the counsel for a defendant in a tractor-trailer accident personal injury lawsuit being unable to locate a company representative, a Texas federal magistrate judge ruled that the defendant was still responsible for its failure to provide complete discovery responses despite counsel’s representation of its efforts to comply with the discovery requests.
October 10, 2023
Sony Must Provide Financial Info For Use In Canadian Shareholder Oppression Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal magistrate judge ruled that a minority shareholder’s subpoena for financial incentive information from Sony Interactive Entertainment America Trading LLC satisfies the threshold and discretionary requirements for obtaining discovery for use in a foreign tribunal, leading him to grant an ex parte application to serve such a subpoena on Sony.
October 10, 2023
New York Special Master Won’t Allow Deposition Of Asbestos-Talc Expert

NEW YORK — Worrying that allowing an expert deposition in an asbestos-talc case could open the floodgates to such moves in New York, which generally doesn’t permit expert depositions, a special master recommended rejecting a defendant’s argument that the unique factors in the case and expert Jacqueline Moline’s report warranted such a drastic departure.
October 06, 2023
Man: Reject Feigned Prejudice From Supplemental Asbestos Expert Disclosures

NEW YORK — Defendants’ efforts at creating the appearance of prejudice from an asbestos-talc expert’s supplemental report ignore that they deposed the witness with full knowledge of her opinions and knew almost immediately of a new article on which she relies, a plaintiff tells a federal judge in New York in opposing a motion to preclude the supplemental report.
October 06, 2023
Magistrate Denies Relator’s Bid To Reopen Discovery In FCA Suit Against Medtronic

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A Kansas federal magistrate judge on Oct. 5 denied a relator’s request to reopen discovery in his qui tam suit alleging that Medtronic and its related company and a hospital violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by participating in a scheme to provide medically unnecessary treatment resulting in the submission of false claims for payment to federal health care programs, finding that the relator failed to establish good cause to reopen discovery.
October 04, 2023
Unsecured Creditors In Vesttoo Chapter 11 Case Get Leave To Conduct Discovery

WILMINGTON, Del. — The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the jointly administered Chapter 11 case of Vesttoo Ltd. and 48 affiliated entities has been granted leave by a Delaware federal bankruptcy judge to conduct discovery.
October 04, 2023
Reinsurer Largely Loses Privilege Row Involving Allocation Modeling Documents

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Finding in part that allocation modeling documents in a discovery dispute are not privileged, a New York federal magistrate judge mostly denied a reinsurer’s motion for a protective order in the breach suit involving an environmental losses settlement.
October 03, 2023
Fracking Operator: Documents Must Be Produced As They Form Basis Of Complaint

WHEELING, W.Va. — A hydraulic fracturing operator filed a reply brief in West Virginia federal court arguing that it should grant the company’s motion to compel production of documents that are directly related to the factual support of landowners’ claims in an abandoned wells dispute because it says the documents in question form the basis of the complaint against the company.
October 02, 2023
U.S. High Court Won’t Review Sanctions, Orders In Law Professor’s Race Bias Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 2 denied a pro se petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a former law professor seeking review of sanctions and other appellate orders in a race bias lawsuit.
September 26, 2023
With Pending Settlement In Clearview Biometrics MDL, Discovery Motions Denied

CHICAGO — In the wake of a tentative settlement announcement by the parties in a multidistrict litigation alleging violations of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by artificial intelligence firm Clearview AI Inc., the magistrate judge overseeing discovery denied as moot motions for sanctions and a protective order and returned the case to the assigned presiding judge in Illinois federal court.
September 22, 2023
Covington’s SEC Disclosure Order Stayed Pending Client’s D.C. Circuit Appeal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — One day before the deadline for Covington & Burling LLP to turn over the names of certain clients sought by the Securities and Exchange Commission in conjunction with a cyberattack investigation, a District of Columbia federal judge on Sept. 21 granted a motion by one of those clients, proceeding anonymously, to partially stay the order pending the intervenor client’s appeal of the disclosure order.
September 19, 2023
Covington, SEC Stipulate To Confidential Release Of 6 Clients’ Names

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge on Sept. 19 approved and signed a stipulation between Covington & Burling LLP and the Securities and Exchange Commission under which the law firm agrees to produce, under a protective order, the names of six of seven clients the judge had ordered it to provide to the commission in a July order, which both parties agree that they will not appeal.
September 19, 2023
High Court Review Sought For Reverse-Preemption Ruling In Insurance Info Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Arguing in part that the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals removed “large pieces of insurance regulation from the purview of states, where it has long been placed and confirmed by the McCarran-Ferguson Act [MFA],” the Delaware Department of Insurance (DDOI) asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a corporate privacy case involving microcaptive insurance company information.
September 18, 2023
Hawaii Judge Grants Genetic Testing Blood Draw In Asbestos Case

HONOLULU — A mesothelioma sufferer will sit for a blood draw for the purposes of genetic testing after a judge in Hawaii granted a defendant’s motion in an asbestos case.
September 15, 2023
Unsecured Creditors In Vesttoo Chapter 11 Case Want To Conduct Discovery

WILMINGTON, Del. — Arguing that it “is the only independent fiduciary capable of conducting a thorough and conflict-free investigation,” the Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the jointly administered Chapter 11 case of Vesttoo Ltd. and 48 affiliated entities on Sept. 14 asked a Delaware federal bankruptcy court for leave to conduct discovery.
September 13, 2023
Roblox User Says Discovery Subpoenas Correctly ID’d Doe Defendant In Libel Suit

ORLANDO — Information obtained via discovery subpoenas served on Roblox Corp. and Twitter Inc. helped to confirm that the defendant identified in an amended complaint was the Jane Doe listed as the original defendant, a Roblox user tells a Florida federal court in a brief opposing dismissal of defamation and trade libel claims over false statements made about her on the online gaming platform and Twitter.
September 13, 2023
Amazon Invokes Apex Doctrine To Avoid Deposition Of VP In Alexa Privacy Suit

SEATTLE — In a reply brief supporting its motion for a protective order, Amazon.com Inc. tells a Washington federal court that one of its senior vice presidents, who has been targeted for deposition by the plaintiffs in a putative privacy class action over alleged eavesdropping by the Alexa digital assistant, qualifies as an apex executive in the company and, as such, is exempted from being deposed under the apex doctrine.
September 12, 2023
Magistrate: Producing Documents Doesn’t Limit Review In Row With Insurer In Rehab

INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana federal magistrate judge ruled that disclosing privileged documents does not constitute a waiver of privilege or limit the parties’ right to review in a breach of contract suit filed by an insurer in rehabilitation against primary and excess directors and officers (D&O) insurers.
September 12, 2023
Law Firm Must Supply Internal Documents To Local Counsel In Attorney Fees Dispute

DETROIT — The lead national counsel in the USA Gymnastics Inc. (USAG) sexual assault lawsuits must supply internal communications to its local counsel, a Michigan federal magistrate judge ruled, finding these to be relevant to a contractual dispute over an attorney fees arrangement between the two law firms.
September 11, 2023
Asbestos-Talc Defendants Seek To Exclude Moline’s Supplemental Disclosures

NEW YORK — Defendants in an asbestos-talc case accused the plaintiff of “gamesmanship” and urged a federal judge in New York to preclude supplemental expert disclosures, including a 2023 paper from asbestos expert Jacqueline Moline, saying the plaintiff sat on the evidence for months while the parties litigated a previous paper raising similar issues.
September 08, 2023
Meta Pixel Privacy Suit Discovery To Include Files Of Zuckerberg, Executives

SAN FRANCISCO — Meta Platforms Inc.’s searches for documents responsive to the discovery requests of the plaintiffs in a consolidated lawsuit over alleged sharing of patients’ protected health information (PHI) via Meta’s Pixel product will include searches of the files of six Meta executives, including its Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg, a California federal magistrate judge ruled, finding that their files were likely to include “unique, relevant information” that would not be available to other custodians who are junior employees.
September 07, 2023
DOL Wins Subpoena Enforcement Bid In ERISA Probe, Dismisses Mandamus Petition

NEW YORK — After the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) won its long-pending bid for enforcement of an administrative subpoena issued in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act investigation, Acting DOL Secretary Julie Su successfully asked the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to dismiss her petition for a writ of mandamus.
September 01, 2023
Calif. Federal Judge Dismisses Citizen Groups’ Claims Challenging Tribal Casino

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A citizen groups’ Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) claim is moot and its other claims challenging the Jamul Indian Village’s casino operations are futile because the village enjoys sovereign immunity, a California federal judge found in dismissing the groups’ claims without leave to amend.