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Mealey's Discovery

May 03, 2024
Production, Brief Ordered In Nonparty Discovery Disputes In Apple Antitrust Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — In response to recently filed briefs concerning discovery plaintiffs seek from two nonparties in their iPhone app monopolization class action against Apple Inc., a California federal magistrate judge issued an order partly granting their motion to compel certain records from app developer Rocket Money, while addressing the company’s concerns about discovery burdens and protecting the confidentiality of its records.
May 03, 2024
Discovery Sought In Abuse Suit Against Care Home Over Demeaning Snapchat Videos

LEWISBURG, Pa. — The attorney-in-fact for a resident of a personal care home moved a Pennsylvania state court to compel discovery in a negligence suit against the care home, related entities, administrators and staff, alleging that the care-dependent resident incurred abuse when staff purportedly posed the resident and took photos and videos of her that were uploaded to Snapchat “for no legitimate reason other than to demean” her.
April 30, 2024
FTC Seeks Evidence Of Amazon’s Use Of Self-Destructing Messages In Antitrust Suit

SEATTLE — Asserting that Amazon.com Inc. executives, including Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos, have been discussing “sensitive business matters,” including the present monopolization lawsuit against it, via an encrypted-messaging app that “irrevocably destroys messages,” the Federal Trade Commission filed a motion in Washington federal court seeking to compel the online retailer to produce any corporate documents related to “preservation notices and its instructions about the use of ephemeral messaging applications.”
April 30, 2024
Shareholders To 3rd Circuit: Revive Securities Case Against Reinsurer, Execs

PHILADELPHIA — Arguing in part that one holding “invented a ‘total eclipse’ standard lacking any basis in” Omnicare, Inc. v. Laborers Dist. Council Constr. Indus. Pension Fund, shareholders filed an appellant brief challenging discovery and summary judgment rulings in a suit over allegations that a reinsurer and some of its former executives violated federal securities laws.
April 29, 2024
Special Master Won’t Reconsider Discovery Into Drug Savings Plan

NEWARK, N.J. — The special master overseeing a dispute in federal court in New Jersey between two drug payment assistance programs declined to reconsider or clarify her early ruling limiting discovery into the plaintiffs’ program or how Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems Inc. prices certain drugs.
April 29, 2024
Google Search Antitrust Judge Unseals Some Court Records For New York Times

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The New York Times Co. was partly successful in its ongoing effort to obtain unsealed versions of court documents in the government’s antitrust lawsuit against Google Inc., when a District of Columbia federal judge issued a document-by-document ruling directing the parties and two nonparties to provide unredacted versions of certain documents related to Google’s agreements that purportedly contributed to its dominance in the internet search engine market.
April 26, 2024
Indivior Proposes Plan For Phased Discovery In Suboxone MDL

CLEVELAND — Indivior Inc., a defendant in the Suboxonefilm multidistrict litigation, filed a supplemental proposal for phased discovery on general causation following a request from the judge overseeing the MDL during a conference meeting.
April 24, 2024
Parties In WhatsApp Spyware Suit Argue Whether Letter Rogatory Is Appropriate

OAKLAND, Calif. — WhatsApp Inc., NSO Group Technologies Limited and a nonparty research lab filed briefs in California federal court disputing whether discovery NSO seeks to obtain from the lab via a letter rogatory is relevant, appropriate or necessary to the computer fraud claims at the heart of the lawsuit over the defendant’s spyware.
April 24, 2024
Juul Gets Partial Win In FOIA Suit Against FDA For E-Cig Ban Docs

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge on April 23 granted in part and denied in part opposing motions for summary judgment filed by Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) and the Food and Drug Administration in an action brought by JLI to obtain materials documenting the FDA’s decision to deny Juul’s premarket tobacco application (PMTA) and ban its products from the market under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
April 24, 2024
Monsanto: School District’s Opposition To Motion To Quash Deposition Should Fail

BURLINGTON, Vt. — Monsanto Co. has filed a reply brief in Vermont federal court contending that the Burlington School District’s (BSD) opposition to Monsanto’s motion to quash the BSD’s notice of deposition in litigation related to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the school and the BSD’s challenge to Monsanto’s motion for a protective order related to testimony from a time period other than 1935 to 1977 constitute “a hidden attempt to argue a belated claim that [Monsanto] had a post-sale duty to warn.”
April 23, 2024
Magistrate Orders Engineering Firm To Produce Documents In Flint Water Crisis Case

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A federal magistrate judge in Michigan ruled April 22 that an engineering firm that is a defendant in litigation stemming from the lead-contaminated water crisis in Flint must provide 40 documents in response to a motion to compel compliance with a discovery order, saying that the judge presiding over the case has already determined that the work product doctrine does not protect the documents in question.
April 16, 2024
COMMENTARY: Interview: Carly Miller And David W. Owen Of Bradley Discuss Discovery And Third-Party Funding In International Arbitration

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April 17, 2024
Clerk Issues Discovery Order In N.C. Guaranty Association’s MSP Suit Against CMS

RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina federal court clerk on April 16 issued an amended discovery order in the North Carolina Insurance Guaranty Association’s (NCIGA) suit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), its secretary and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), seeking a determination that the NCIGA is not a primary plan under the federal Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) statute and therefore not obligated to reimburse CMS regarding a workers’ compensation claim involving an insolvent insurer.
April 17, 2024
Apple, Plaintiffs, App Makers Differ On Discovery Issues In IPhone Antitrust Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — In a trio of discovery letter briefs filed in California federal court, Apple Inc., a class of consumers and a nonparty app developer bicker over the relevance of the plaintiffs’ discovery requests related to notification of the recently certified class and the merits of the class monopolization claims against Apple.
April 17, 2024
Deadlines For 1st Bellwether Trials In Covidien Hernia Mesh MDL Pushed Back

BOSTON — The federal magistrate judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation involving Covidien hernia mesh agreed to extend dates in the current scheduling order by eight months after the plaintiffs cited “significant discovery deficiencies” on the part of the defendants.
April 15, 2024
Judge Partly Grants Insurer’s Motion To Compel In D&O Coverage Dispute Over Merger

WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware judge on April 12 granted in part and denied in part a directors and officers liability insurer’s motion to compel discovery in a coverage dispute over claims that directors, officers and controlling shareholders breached their fiduciary duties in connection with the 2019 merger of Viacom and CBS Corp.
April 15, 2024
Paper Mill, Contractor Debate Discovery Scope In Asbestos Indemnity Action

RALEIGH, N.C. — In opposing a motion to compel production of evidence tied to its possible negligence, a paper product company tells a federal judge in North Carolina that it owed no duty to the employee of a contractor and is entitled to contractual indemnification for defending and ultimately settling the asbestos-related claim, the company says.
April 12, 2024
Tepezza Hearing Loss MDL Judge Clarifies Discovery Order, OKs Bellwether Extension

CHICAGO — The judge overseeing the Tepezza hearing loss multidistrict litigation clarified an order he signed in March compelling Horizon Therapeutics USA Inc. to hand over certain information to reflect that the drug manufacturer disputes the relevance of data that was requested by the plaintiffs.
April 11, 2024
Sanctions Discovery Order In Trademark Row Between ICEE, Slush Puppie Stands

CINCINNATI — A federal judge in Ohio on April 10 said he won’t reconsider his August bench ruling that granted discovery on a defendant’s request for sanctions against opposing counsel, in a contractual dispute involving a fabricated trademark license that was presented as valid for more than two years of litigation.
April 09, 2024
Retired CARD Director Says BNSF Deposition Went Off The Rails

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Despite agreeing to limit deposition questions to mesothelioma and relevant issues, a railway asked a retired director of a medical clinic about unrelated diseases and practices, the man tells a federal judge in Montana in seeking a protective order and sanctions.
April 09, 2024
After Summary Judgment In ERISA Fees Case, Defendants File Bill Of Costs For ESI

DES MOINES, Iowa — After an Iowa federal judge granted summary judgment against a class of 401(k) participants in a dispute over record-keeping fees, grocery chain Hy-Vee Inc. and related defendants filed a bill of costs seeking $53,319.87 in taxable costs, including $40,232.83 for discovery of electronically stored information (ESI).
April 05, 2024
Insurer Must Provide Claims File In Bar Fight Coverage Bad Faith Suit

ORLANDO, Fla. — In light of an insurer’s failure to respond to a third-party bad faith claimant’s motion to compel production of documents, a Florida federal magistrate judge on April 4 granted the motion, giving the insurance company two weeks to comply or face the possibility of sanctions.
April 05, 2024
Student Must Provide Medical Records In Gender Bias Suit Against Princeton

TRENTON, N.J. — Because of the interrelated nature of physical and mental health, a New Jersey federal judge found that a Princeton University student waived any privilege in his medical records by claiming mental and emotional damages in his gender bias claims over the university’s investigation of claims of violence brought by his former girlfriend, with the judge affirming a magistrate’s denial of the plaintiff’s motion for a protective order to shield his records from discovery.
April 03, 2024
Judge Denies Additional Genetic Mutation Testing In Mesothelioma Case

LOS ANGELES — A defendant previously granted BAP-1 testing in a mesothelioma case should have requested the mutation testing it now seeks when it first sought testing, and there is too little time remaining to conduct the additional testing it now seeks, a California judge said in denying the request.
March 29, 2024
L’Oréal: Bid To Compel Responses In Hair Relaxer Case ‘Unwarranted And Improper’

CHICAGO — L’Oréal USA filed a brief in Illinois federal court on March 28 arguing that a motion to compel compliance with discovery orders filed by plaintiffs who contend they have been injured by chemicals in hair relaxer products is “unwarranted and improper” and that it has provided responses to interrogatories and there is nothing left to compel.