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

Mealey's Discovery

March 28, 2024
Panel Affirms Order Denying Bid To Reopen Discovery In Care Home Negligence Suit

TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey appellate court on March 27 affirmed lower court orders that denied an estate’s request to reopen discovery and granted a nursing home and related entities’ motion for summary judgment in a negligence suit filed against them, finding that the lower court did not abuse its discretion in holding that the estate failed to show “exceptional circumstances” needed to reopen discovery and that there is “no basis” to overturn the order granting summary judgment.
March 27, 2024
Spyware Suit Judge Partly Denies Issuing Letter Rogatory On Canadian Lab

OAKLAND, Calif. — An Israeli spyware firm that is fending off computer fraud and trespass allegations by WhatsApp Inc. saw its motion to issue a letter rogatory on a third-party Canadian watchdog lab partly denied March 26 by a California federal judge who deemed some of the information sought to be duplicative of discovery already received from the plaintiff.
March 27, 2024
Justice: Defendant May Obtain Plaintiff’s Medical Record Of Drug Use, But Not Of HIV

BRONX, N.Y. — A New York state court justice has ruled that a realty company sued for causing lead-paint poisoning injuries is entitled to the infant plaintiffs’ mother’s medical records related to her use of drugs and alcohol, but he determined that the realty company cannot access her medical history pertaining to HIV.
March 26, 2024
Auto Insurer’s Claims File Is Discoverable, Ohio Panel Says In Affirming Ruling

CINCINNATI — A trial court did not err in ordering an auto insurer to produce its claims file because pursuant to Ohio precedent, an insurer’s claims file is discoverable up until the date of payment when insureds allege that the insurer acted in bad faith in handling a claim, the First District Ohio Court of Appeals said in affirming the trial court’s ruling.
March 21, 2024
Judge Orders BAP 1 Genetic Testing In California Asbestos Case

LOS ANGELES — Evidence of whether a man carries the BAP 1 genetic mutation and its potential role in his mesothelioma go to a core issue in an asbestos case and cannot be obtained in any other way, a California judge said in granting a motion to compel and ordering a saliva test and associated genetic testing.
March 21, 2024
ICSID Says Qatar Shouldn’t Enforce Death Sentence Against French-Algerian Investor

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on March 20 published a tribunal’s order granting a request for provisional measures filed by a French-Algerian investor who has been sentenced to death in Qatar, in which it says the state should not “harm the life and safety” of the investor “or any of his relatives” and directing the suspension of criminal proceedings against him “pending the conclusion of this arbitration.”
March 15, 2024
Magistrate: Camp Lejeune Plaintiffs Are Entitled To ‘Exotic’ Files Of Water Tests

RALEIGH, N.C. — A federal magistrate judge in North Carolina has ruled that plaintiffs in the lawsuit over drinking water contamination at the U.S. Marine Corps Base at Camp Lejeune are entitled to “exotic” modeling files in their native format that pertain to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry’s (ATSDR) testing at the site.
March 14, 2024
Subpoena For Deposition In Trademark Opposition Will Stay Quashed, Panel Rules

RICHMOND, Va. — Although with a different rationale than the one espoused by a Virginia federal judge, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 13 upheld an order that quashed a subpoena issued to a foreign entity in opposition proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.
March 14, 2024
Bitcoin Firm Maintains Its Pursuit Of Discovery Sanctions Against Miner

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Responding to a Florida federal judge’s order to show cause, a cryptocurrency company filed notice that its disputes over post-trial discovery with a former business associate had not been resolved and that it will continue pursuing civil contempt sanctions against the defendant.
March 14, 2024
2 Complaints Alleging Infections From Detergent Consolidated For Discovery

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York consolidated, “at least for purposes of discovery,” two complaints, one of which is a consolidated putative class action, accusing the maker of luxury cleaning and laundry products of continuing to sell products after learning that they were contaminated with several types of bacteria, including one that is antibiotic-resistant.
March 13, 2024
Petitioner To Board: Patent Owner Should Be Sanctioned For Discovery Abuses

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In a March 12 motion to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, petitioners for inter partes review (IPR) seek an order barring a patent owner from arguing that the commercial success of its WeatherTech vehicle floor liner products — and related praise that the floor mats have received in the automobile industry — supports a finding of nonobviousness.
March 13, 2024
Camp Lejeune Plaintiffs Seek Immediate Appeal Of Order Denying Them A Jury Trial

RALEIGH, N.C. — The Plaintiffs’ Leadership Group (PLG) in the litigation pertaining to the drinking water crisis at the U.S. Marine Corps base at Camp Lejeune has filed a reply brief in North Carolina federal court arguing that immediate appellate review is needed on whether the Camp Lejeune Justice Act (CLJA) authorizes jury trials for plaintiffs bringing claims under the statute.
March 13, 2024
Tribes And Voters Challenge 8th Circuit’s Discovery Ruling In U.S. Supreme Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals erred in finding that North Dakota legislators and a government staffer were entitled to the legislative privilege in a case challenging the states’ most recent redistricting plan as unfair to Native Americans, a group of two tribes and three individual voters argue in a petition for writ of certiorari filed in the U.S. Supreme Court.
March 13, 2024
States Move To Lift Discovery Stay In Google Ad Monopolization Suit

SHERMAN, Texas — A group of states suing Google LLC for antitrust and deceptive practices related to digital advertising moved in Texas federal court to lift a discovery stay pertaining to a network bidding agreement (NBA) with Facebook Inc., contending that despite dismissal of one claim related to the NBA, information about the agreement is relevant to their remaining claims.
March 12, 2024
Discovery Orders Granted, Appeal Filed In Vesttoo Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Cases

WILMINGTON, Del. — A notice of appeal has been filed concerning the confirmation of a Chapter 11 plan of liquidation for Vesttoo Ltd. and its dozens of affiliates, and a Delaware federal bankruptcy judge on March 11 granted four unopposed motions for leave to conduct discovery against banking entities.
March 12, 2024
Talc Study Evidence Crucial To Defending Case, Defendant Says

RICHMOND, Va. — A talc defendant defended its need for a list of mesothelioma study participants from a third party, saying in a brief to the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the evidence is the only way it has of refuting asbestos-talc claims at trial and that the burden of showing otherwise lies with the party seeking to quash the subpoena.
March 11, 2024
English Justice Addresses Broker Disclosure In Light Of Sanctions On Russia

LONDON — A reinsurance placing broker would not contravene a set of United Kingdom sanctions against Russia by providing certain documents requested under an application for third-party disclosure in a case involving insurance and reinsurance for aircraft and engines leased to Russian entities, an English justice concluded.
March 11, 2024
Covington Client Dismisses D.C. Circuit Appeal Of SEC Disclosure Order

WASHINGTON, D.C. — More than eight months after a judge ordered Covington & Burling LLP to identify for the Securities and Exchange Commission seven of its clients whose information had been compromised in a cybersecurity attack, one of those clients, proceeding pseudonymously, on March 11 filed a stipulation voluntarily dismissing his appeal to the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals of that ruling.
March 08, 2024
School District: Information About Monsanto’s Knowledge Of PCB Dangers Is Relevant

BURLINGTON, Vt. — The Burlington School District (BSD) has filed a brief in Vermont federal court opposing Monsanto Co.’s motion to quash the BSD’s notice of deposition and opposing Monsanto’s motion for a protective order related to testimony from a time period other than 1935 to 1977, arguing that information related to years since 1977 is relevant because Monsanto disputes allegations regarding the information it may have obtained about polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) after that year and disputes the proposition that PCBs pose a public health threat.
March 08, 2024
DOJ, ACLUF Settle Social Media Monitoring FOIA Row For $240,000 In Fees, Costs

OAKLAND, Calif. — After almost two years of conferring, filing status reports and submitting documents, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation (ACLUF) and several government agencies jointly filed a stipulation and proposed order of dismissal in California federal court, under which they agree to end a five-year-old Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) dispute with the payment of $240,000 in attorney fees and costs by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and other agencies.
March 04, 2024
J&J Special Master Wants Responsive Documents Prior To Decision On Subpoena

TRENTON, N.J. — The special master overseeing the federal Johnson & Johnson multidistrict asbestos talc litigation said a consulting firm should produce documents responsive to a subpoena seeking communications between it and law firms the defendant seeks to disqualify, after which the parties can confer about any resulting privileged documents prior to a ruling on a motion to quash.
March 01, 2024
Talc Special Master Quashes Subpoena Seeking Moline Study Participants

TRENTON, N.J. — Because asbestos expert Jacqueline Moline will not testify at trial, and no other expert appears to rely on her study involving asbestos-talc exposure and mesothelioma, Johnson & Johnson’s subpoena seeking the names of individuals in the study is irrelevant, a special master in the federal talc multidistrict litigation said Feb. 29 in granting a motion to quash.
February 29, 2024
Canadian Lab Opposes Israeli Firm’s Discovery Efforts In WhatsApp Spyware Row

OAKLAND, Calif. — A nonparty Canadian lab that focuses on “digital espionage” filed a motion in California federal court on Feb. 28, seeking to specially appear in the computer fraud lawsuit between WhatsApp Inc. and NSO Group Technologies Limited for the purpose of opposing NSO’s motion to serve it with a letter rogatory to obtain “sweeping discovery” that it contends is “almost exclusively unrelated to the claims and defenses” in the case.
February 28, 2024
Judge: Former Libby, Mont., Asbestos Clinic Director Must Sit For Deposition

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — A federal judge in Montana overseeing an asbestos action against a railway denied two motions to quash a subpoena issued to the former director of a medical clinic in Libby, Mont., giving the parties two hours to depose the witness and circumscribing what may be asked at the deposition.
February 20, 2024
Israeli Firm Seeks Discovery From Canadian Research Lab In Spyware Suit

OAKLAND, Calif.— With competing motions to compel pending in its computer fraud dispute with WhatsApp Inc., Israeli surveillance technology company NSO Group Technologies Limited asked a California federal court to issue a letter rogatory requesting a Canadian court to compel discovery from a Toronto-based research laboratory that aided WhatsApp in the present suit.