Mealey's Discovery
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July 25, 2023
Covington Must Disclose Some Clients’ Names To SEC In Response To Subpoena
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission is entitled to have access to the names of certain clients of Covington & Burling LLP whose material nonpublic information (MNPI) was accessed during a cyberattack, a District of Columbia federal judge ruled July 24, partly granting the SEC’s motion to enforce the subpoena, while trimming the number of clients from a list of 298 to just seven that were deemed relevant to the commission’s investigation.
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July 24, 2023
Parties To AI Image Discovery Spat Detail Dispute Over Jurisdiction
WILMINGTON, Del. — Parties to a federal court case in Delaware filed letter briefs over a discovery dispute involving allegations that an artificial intelligence company is withholding evidence about jurisdiction and the relationship between its United Kingdom and Delaware entities that goes directly to the alter ego allegations.
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July 24, 2023
In Antitrust Action Over Sham Patent Litigation, Document Production Ordered
PHILADELPHIA — Upon in camera review of 211 privileged and/or work product documents related to sham patent litigation, a federal judge in Pennsylvania has ordered AbbVie Inc. and Besins Healthcare Inc. (AbbVie, collectively) to produce nearly 20 exhibits to plaintiffs in an action alleging antitrust violations by the drugmakers.
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July 21, 2023
Judge Adopts Fees Ruling, Finding Lawyers Never Complied With Court Orders
BALTIMORE — A federal judge in Maryland said she agreed “wholesale” with a magistrate judge’s conclusion that much of the litigation over asbestos case referral fees could have been avoided had the defendant simply complied with the court’s discovery order.
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July 19, 2023
Party Details Dispute Over Jurisdiction, Alter Ego In AI Image Discovery Spat
WILMINGTON, Del. — An artificial intelligence company is withholding evidence about jurisdiction and the relationship between its United Kingdom and Delaware entities that goes directly to the alter ego allegations, an image company told a federal judge in Delaware on July 18.
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July 19, 2023
3rd Circuit Won’t Stay Mandate In Case Over Delaware Microcaptive Info
PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel that ruled against the Delaware Department of Insurance (DDOI) in a case the panel said “pits Delaware’s authority to protect corporate privacy against the power of the IRS” on July 18 denied DDOI’s motion to stay the mandate pending an intended certiorari petition.
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July 18, 2023
Florida Appeals Court: Trial Court Must Finalize Pelvic Mesh Discovery Order
MIAMI — A Florida state appeals court has granted a petition for mandamus compelling a state trial court to enter an appealable final judgment in a pelvic mesh discovery lawsuit.
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July 18, 2023
Opioid MDL Judge OKs Plaintiffs’ Access To Updated DEA Drug Database
CLEVELAND — The Ohio federal judge overseeing the opioid multidistrict litigation has granted a motion by the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee (PEC) to enforce a subpoena on the Drug Enforcement Administration to produce updated opioid drug distribution data from the agency’s ARCOS data base, saying it is relevant to pending litigation.
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July 13, 2023
Mesothelioma Plaintiff Opposes Blood Draw, Genetic Testing
LOS ANGELES — Plaintiffs in a mesothelioma case urged a California court to deny a motion seeking a blood draw for genetic testing, saying the court should reject the motion on procedural grounds and that the defendants overstate the role of a BAP1 genetic mutation.
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July 13, 2023
Company: Asbestos Lawyer’s Complaint Against Former Firm Should Be Public
LOS ANGELES — A California trial court correctly unsealed a complaint and had the power to order production of an unredacted version involving allegations that a law firm suborned perjury from one of its asbestos clients, a company says in a reply brief, calling the lawyer and the firm he sued for wrongful termination “strange bedfellows.”
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July 12, 2023
Deepwater Horizon Plaintiff Denied Bid To Obtain Clawed Back Item From BP
NEW ORLEANS — A man bringing claims against BP Exploration & Production Inc. and BP America Production Co. (BP, collectively) pursuant to the Deepwater Horizon medical settlement agreement (MSA) saw his motion to compel production of a confidential document from another case denied, with a Louisiana federal judge declining to override of other court’s protective order.
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July 12, 2023
Lowe’s Avoids Sanctions Over Deposition, Deadlines In Personal Injury Suit
EL PASO, Texas — A customer of Lowe’s Home Centers LLC failed to establish that he was entitled to sanctions for the home supply chain’s purported failure to comply with a discovery order or to provide a corporate officer for deposition, a Texas federal magistrate judge ruled, finding that the personal injury plaintiff did not meet its burden to show that sanctions were warranted.
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July 12, 2023
Former Law Professor’s Employer Argues Against High Court Review Of Sanctions
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A former law professor’s pro se petition for a writ of certiorari seeking review of sanctions and other appellate orders in a race bias lawsuit should be denied as none of the criteria necessary has been met, the professor’s former employer argues in an opposition brief filed in the U.S. Supreme Court.
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July 11, 2023
Subpoenas Issued In $9.8M Life Policy Row Related To Alleged Fraudulent Birthdate
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge granted a securities intermediary’s request to subpoena federal and state agencies in its breach of contract suit against a life insurer for failure to pay a $9.8 million death benefit, finding that the insured’s actual birthdate is “relevant” to the denial of coverage regarding the insured’s alleged fraud as to “misstatement of age.”
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July 11, 2023
Asbestos Firm: Motion Ignores ‘Indefensible’ Conduct At Heart Of Sanctions
BALTIMORE — Unable to recast “indefensible” conduct, lawyers hit with more than $1 million in fees and costs for litigation misconduct simply take a magistrate judge’s words out of context and argue that he mischaracterized their arguments, a law firm told a federal court in Maryland overseeing a dispute over asbestos trust referral fees.
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July 10, 2023
Judge Denies Sanctions Despite Counsel’s ‘False Statement’ About Asbestos Expert
PHOENIX — While counsel’s representations about a discovery dispute were “simply not accurate,” a judge in Arizona said he would not impose sanctions on the expert witness who refused to answer deposition questions or counsel, finding no bad faith and that the plaintiff’s concerns about the potential impact were “nonsense.”
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July 07, 2023
Insurer: Production Would Involve Millions Of Claims, Man Hours
TEXARKANA, Texas — A federal judge in Texas on July 6 gave a medical provider until July 21 to respond to an insurer’s motion for reconsideration challenging a ruling compelling production of records it said could potentially apply to all 21 million emergency reimbursement claims in Texas and require 1.4 million man hours.
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July 06, 2023
J&J Securities Plaintiff, Asbestos Expert Counter Need To Revisit Subpoena Issue
TRENTON, N.J. — Asbestos lawyers, an expert and plaintiffs in a securities class action told a federal judge in New Jersey that he should reject Johnson & Johnson’s untimely and unnecessary request to reconsider a ruling quashing sanctions to nonparties.
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July 06, 2023
Asbestos Securities Plaintiff Refutes Need To Revisit J&J Third-Party Subpoenas
TRENTON, N.J. — A court need not reconsider a ruling quashing third-party subpoenas because even if Johnson & Johnson (J&J) obtained all the evidence it seeks with the subpoenas, the information discovered would not refute the statistically significant drop in stock price that happened in the wake of media reports that the company knew for decades about asbestos contamination of its talc, a plaintiff for a putative securities class told a federal judge in New Jersey in a response brief.
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July 06, 2023
United States Urges 3rd Circuit Not To Stay Mandate In Microcaptive Info Case
PHILADELPHIA — Arguing that there is “no reasonable probability” the U.S. Supreme Court will either agree to review the case or hand down a reversal, the United States urged against staying a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals mandate pending an intended certiorari petition by the Delaware Department of Insurance (DDOI) in a case the Third Circuit panel said “pits Delaware’s authority to protect corporate privacy against the power of the IRS.”
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July 05, 2023
Man Wants Sanctions For Asbestos-Talc Company’s Discovery Attempts
NEW YORK — Evidence continues to mount that an asbestos-talc defendant acted in bad faith in pursuing discovery of the identities of participants in Jacqueline Moline’s study on causation, a man tells a federal judge in New York in a reply brief in support of sanctions.
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July 03, 2023
Parties Resolve Dispute Over $300,000 Asbestos Discovery Sanction
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Supreme Court dismissed an appeal over a $300,000 sanction after parties notified the court of an agreement, ending a fully briefed dispute over the allegedly in-trial revelation that a typographic error made it appear that there were two asbestos-containing boilers shipped to a man’s workplace.
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June 29, 2023
Fracking Company Says Bid To Quash Subpoena In Abandoned Wells Case Fails
WHEELING, W.Va. — A hydraulic fracturing company has filed a brief in West Virginia federal court contending that it should deny a landowner’s motion to quash a subpoena in a case pertaining to abandoned wells on jurisdictional grounds and because the landowner has not met his burden for resisting discovery.
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June 28, 2023
Monsanto, Plaintiffs Seek Discovery Protective Order In PCB Injury Lawsuit
BURLINGTON, Vt. — Monsanto Co. and school teachers and a spouse who have sued the company for injuries from exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in a school have moved in Vermont federal court for approval of a stipulated protective order governing discovery because the litigation may involve production of trade secrets, personal health information and other sensitive material.
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June 28, 2023
Illinois Agencies Compelled To Produce Documents In PCB Case Against Monsanto
CHICAGO — Illinois state agencies that were explicitly referenced in Illinois’ complaint against Monsanto Co. for the alleged statewide contamination of waterways by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) can be compelled to produce documents because the attorney general effectively controls the documents, an Illinois federal magistrate judge found in granting Monsanto’s motion to compel discovery.