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Mealey's Discovery

March 23, 2023
Google Must Give Expert Confidential Documents In Location-Tracking Suit

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A group of plaintiffs suing Google LLC for privacy violations related to the purported surreptitious gathering of their location information data prevailed in a discovery matter, with a California federal magistrate judge ordering the technology giant to turn over a collection of confidential documents to the plaintiffs’ expert witness.
March 22, 2023
Man Asks Court To Compel Asbestos-Talc Defendant To Produce Prepared Witness

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A mesothelioma sufferer facing an April asbestos-talc trial asked a Connecticut judge on March 20 to compel Whittaker, Clark & Daniels Inc. (WCD) to produce a corporate representative to testify about all topics, including the company’s financials, after a previous witness appeared “woefully unprepared.”
March 22, 2023
Discovery Stayed In Uber Drivers’ Biometric Privacy Suit Against Microsoft

CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge granted a motion by Microsoft Corp. to stay discovery proceedings until the resolution of its motion to compel arbitration in a putative class action under Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) brought by former drivers with Uber Technologies Inc. related to a facial recognition app, with the judge finding that there would be little harm to the drivers and predicting that the arbitration motion would be resolved quickly.
March 20, 2023
Justices Will Not Hear Appeal Over SEC’s Subpoena Service To Company’s CEO

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 20 declined review of the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel’s ruling that a federal district court did not abuse its discretion in determining that a company and its CEO were properly served with subpoenas by the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the agency’s investigation into allegations of securities fraud.
March 17, 2023
As Receiver Seeks Information, Asbestos-Talc Defendant Wants Appointment Nixed

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The receiver appointed by a South Carolina court to oversee the assets of Whittaker, Clark & Daniels Inc. (WCD) asked the court to clarify its ruling and order the company and its counsel to comply, while on March 16 the company asked for reconsideration of the ruling.
March 15, 2023
Bestwall Asbestos Claimants Get Discovery Sanctions Appeal Put On Hold

RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has placed in abeyance an appeal by asbestos personal injury claimants in the Chapter 11 case of Georgia-Pacific spinoff Bestwall LLC of the dismissal of their challenges to a bankruptcy judge’s contempt finding against them for not providing complete information to the debtor in a discovery questionnaire, pending a decision in two similar appeals that were consolidated.
March 15, 2023
Positions Outlined In Insurance Coverage Row Over Jet Leased To Russian Operator

SAN FRANCISCO — In a joint filing in California state court, parties in an international aviation insurance coverage dispute involving Russia’s invasion of Ukraine outline their positions, including disagreements on the scope of expected discovery.
March 15, 2023
Roblox User To Supreme Court: No ‘Freewheeling Right’ To Anonymous Online Speech

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An online gamer asks the U.S. Supreme Court to deny the petition for certiorari filed by a Jane Doe that she sued for defamation, asserting that the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not protect defamatory speech and, as such, does not shield an anonymous online speaker’s identity from being disclosed for litigation purposes.
March 13, 2023
United States Seeks Reconsideration Of Libby, Mont., Asbestos Deposition Ruling

MISSOULA, Mont. — The United States has asked for leave to file a motion for reconsideration, telling a federal judge in Montana that having two agencies appear for deposition in a dispute over fraud claims stemming from asbestos-related Medicare claims related to Libby, Mont., would require marshalling numerous individuals from several different agencies and asking them to duplicate already performed work without any likelihood of producing relevant evidence.
March 10, 2023
Recommendation In Microcaptive Probe Case Modified At Parties’ Request, Adopted

TAMPA, Fla. — Pursuant to a joint motion by the parties, a Florida federal judge made modifications in adopting a recommendation that a petition for enforcement of an Internal Revenue Service summons be mostly granted and an insurance consultancy’s motion to limit the summons be mostly denied.
March 09, 2023
Iraqi Companies, Owner Can Obtain Discovery From Firm For Arbitration, Judge Says

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal judge on March 8 granted motions to intervene and obtain discovery from a law firm filed by two Iraqi companies and their owner, who are accused in a pending international arbitration of defrauding an investor of $800 million, finding the movants entitled to the same discovery that was previously issued to the investor and declining to retroactively apply recent U.S. Supreme Court precedent on discovery for foreign tribunals.
March 08, 2023
Duty To Preserve Argued In Google Chrome Data Collection Suits

SAN JOSE, Calif. — In a joint submission, Google LLC and a group of plaintiffs alleging privacy violations in Google’s Chrome web browser tell a California federal court their divergent views on whether the defendant was obligated to preserve and submit mapping and linking tables about which the parties dispute the relevance to the litigation.
March 06, 2023
Church Officials Seek High Court Review After Ruling In Bishop’s Defamation Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Officials and entities affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking review of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution’s church autonomy doctrine and “ministerial exception” after the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that it lacked appellate jurisdiction over district court orders denying dismissal, denying reconsideration and seeking to bifurcate discovery or stay the proceedings in a bishop’s defamation suit.
March 06, 2023
Meta Opposes New Mexico’s Intervention In Profile Sharing MDL Settlement

SAN FRANCISCO — New Mexico is not entitled to participate in the preliminary approval hearing for the proposed $725 million settlement of the multidistrict litigation regarding the 2015 Facebook user profile-sharing incident, Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook Inc.) argues in a brief in California federal court opposing the state’s motion to intervene, contending that any “preclusive effect” the settlement might have upon a parallel suit should be addressed by the New Mexico state court where it is pending.
March 06, 2023
Ford Seeks To Compel Production Of Settlements After $275,000 Asbestos Award

GREENSBORO, N.C. — A federal court in North Carolina should compel production of amounts a woman received from pretrial settlements, which are both discoverable and may well exceed the jury’s $275,000 asbestos verdict, Ford Motor Co. says.
March 01, 2023
Amendment And Dismissal Fought After Jurisdictional Discovery In Fraud Suit

WILMINGTON, Del. — Opposing recent motions in a case concerning an alleged scheme to transfer funds from a reinsurance trust to affiliated entities and “highly volatile hedge funds,” the plaintiffs tell a Delaware Chancery Court that the case should not be dismissed for failure to prosecute and certain defendants argue in part that a bid to file a fourth amended complaint “is procedurally improper, untimely, and futile.”
February 24, 2023
Government Must Testify In Medicare-Asbestos Fraud Case, Judge Says

MISSOULA, Mont. — A federal judge in Montana granted a joint motion to compel trial testimony from two government entities on possibly fraudulent Medicare claims stemming from Libby, Mont., asbestos exposures, saying that they alone possessed the information and that the evidence was material to the case.
February 24, 2023
Amici Warn Of Fallout From SEC’s Subpoena Of Privileged Materials From Covington

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Responding to a District of Columbia federal judge’s order to show cause, four amicus curiae briefs were submitted condemning the Securities and Exchange Commission for its subpoena seeking client lists from law firm Covington & Burling LLP and warning of harmful consequences to the attorney-client privilege.
February 24, 2023
After Lengthy Abeyance, Supreme Court Dismisses Securities Discovery Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Almost a year and a half after placing a dispute over the discovery stay provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (Reform Act) in abeyance at the parties’ request, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the parties’ joint motion to dismiss the case, to which certiorari had initially been granted, in light of a recently approved $2.75 million settlement,
February 23, 2023
‘Devastating Consequences’ If Study Subject Identities Are Released, Briefs Warn

NEW YORK — Expert Jacqueline Moline, her employer and an asbestos plaintiff tell a federal judge in New York in Feb. 22 letter briefs that experts on both sides agree that study participants retain an expectation of privacy even if their information becomes available through other means and warn of the “devastating consequences” should the court deviate from that bedrock principle and require disclosure of their identities.
February 23, 2023
Asbestos Settlements But Not Communications Discoverable, Magistrate Says

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A man must provide an asbestos-talc defendant with settlement agreements he reached, but the communications behind those agreements are a “different animal” and not discoverable, a federal magistrate judge in Kansas said Feb. 22.
February 23, 2023
D.C. Circuit Affirms $1.5M Sanctions Award Against Romania For Discovery Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a federal court’s imposition of $1.5 million in sanctions against the government of Romania for failure to comply with discovery orders issued in relation to post-judgment enforcement of an arbitral award it was ordered to pay to Swedish investors and their companies worth more than $356 million, rejecting all of Romania’s arguments challenging the propriety of sanctions.
February 22, 2023
Wikimedia Denied Certiorari Over State Secrets Privilege In NSA Surveillance Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Wikimedia Foundation’s challenge to the dismissal of its lawsuit over the National Security Agency’s upstream surveillance program came to an end on Feb. 21, when the U.S. Supreme Court denied Wikimedia’s petition for certiorari, declining to consider whether a trial court properly invoked the state secrets privilege in disposing of the case.
February 21, 2023
Limited Discovery Granted In ERISA Preemption Suit Over N.J. Severance Changes

TRENTON, N.J. — Ruling that “additional discovery is necessary for Defendants to properly respond,” a New Jersey federal judge denied a summary judgment motion without prejudice in a dispute over whether the Employee Retirement Income Security Act expressly preempts amendments to the New Jersey WARN Act that require severance for employees who are part of a “mass layoff.”
February 16, 2023
Insurer Must Produce Financial Records As They Are Relevant To Bad Faith Claim

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — An insured seeking coverage for groundwater contamination at a county airport is entitled to discovery regarding the financial condition of an excess insurer’s parent and affiliate companies because the financial information is relevant to the insured’s allegation that the insurer had a financial motive for acting in bad faith when it stopped reimbursing the insured for remediation costs, a California federal magistrate judge said in denying the insurer’s motion for a protective order.