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

Mealey's Discovery

September 09, 2024
New York Court Consolidates Moline, Northwell Asbestos Studies Appeals

NEW YORK — A New York appellate court consolidated two appeals involving a ruling quashing subpoenas to asbestos expert Jacqueline Moline and Northwell Health Inc. and said the cases will be heard in the September term as requested.
September 06, 2024
Judge ‘Cautions’ WhatsApp, Denies Reconsideration To Spyware Firm In Fraud Dispute

OAKLAND, Calif. — A California federal judge on Sept. 5 denied a spyware firm’s motion for reconsideration of the judge’s order denying as moot the firm’s request to compel WhatsApp Inc.’s production of a privilege log in WhatsApp’s suit against the firm related to its alleged computer fraud because WhatsApp has now produced the log but “caution[ed]” WhatsApp that what it calls ‘“oversights’ may be grounds for a different type of sanction.”
September 06, 2024
California Judge Will Grant Genetic Testing Motion But Wants Protocols In Place

OAKLAND, Calif. — A California judge said he remained inclined to grant a motion for genetic testing seeking to determine whether a man suffers from a germline mutation that might explain his mesothelioma, but stayed the ruling and said the parties should meet and confer to ensure a protocol exists to protect the genetic information and ensure destruction of any results that exceed the court’s order.
September 05, 2024
Spyware Firm Seeks Reconsideration Of Denial As To WhatsApp’s Privilege Log

OAKLAND, Calif. — Pursuant to a California federal judge’s order granting its motion for leave, a spyware firm filed a motion for reconsideration of the judge’s order denying as moot the firm’s request to compel WhatsApp Inc.’s production of a privilege log, asserting that WhatsApp falsely represented that it would produce the privilege log in WhatsApp’s suit against the firm related to its alleged computer fraud.
September 05, 2024
8th Circuit Affirms Quashing Of Subpoenas, Awarding Attorney Fees Against Experian

ST. LOUIS — Agreeing with a district court that a credit reporting agency “crossed the line when it demanded mostly irrelevant information,” the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court’s orders quashing subpoenas and awarding a consumer credit law firm $93,243.50 in fees and costs “for the extra work” the agency created.
September 05, 2024
Citing FAA, Insurer Raises Third-Party Subpoena Prehearing Issue In Federal Court

DETROIT — An insurer has petitioned a Michigan federal court to compel compliance with third-party subpoenas for prehearing discovery depositions in a $950,742.64 dispute over a medical excess reinsurance agreement that has gone to arbitration.
September 04, 2024
Magistrate Grants Motion To Compel Discovery In Medicare Advantage Fraud Dispute

TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida federal magistrate judge on Sept. 3 granted a relator’s motion to compel discovery from medical providers and affiliated providers in a suit alleging that the medical providers and Medicare Advantage (MA) insurers violated the False Claims Act (FCA), finding that “while there do appear to be differences between employed and affiliated providers, the Court does not find these differences to be relevant or significant enough to exclude affiliated providers from discovery.”
September 04, 2024
Judge: Boiler Maker Must Respond To Todd Shipyard Ship-Specific Asbestos Discovery

SAN FRANCISCO — A boiler company must respond to a request for production of any evidence related to six ships that underwent repairs at the Todd Shipyard in the early 1960s, a federal judge in California said in rejecting the company’s argument that complying would require “scouring its records.”
September 04, 2024
Philips Argues For Discovery Consolidation In Related CPAP MDLs

PITTSBURGH — Koninklijke Philips N.V., Philips North America LLC and Philips RS North America LLC (collectively, Philips) asked the judge overseeing two related multidistrict litigations involving the recall of approximately 10.8 million Philips continuous positive air pressure (CPAP) sleep apnea devices and respirators to rule that documents produced in one MDL can be used in the other.
September 03, 2024
Panama Seeks To Prevent Delay Of $4.84M Arbitration Award

MIAMI — The Republic of Panama has asked a Florida federal court to stay discovery and to dismiss counterclaims of an American company and its principal in a case involving alleged contract violations that began when Panama filed a petition to enforce a $4.84 million arbitration award.
August 30, 2024
Judge Won’t Reopen Discovery Into Type Of Hurricane Glass Used In Home

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — A New York federal judge will not overrule a magistrate judge’s denial of a defense motion to reopen discovery in a lawsuit involving hurricane glass installed on a shorefront home.
August 29, 2024
Dialysis Provider Apprises Court Of Potential AI Discovery Concerns

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A dialysis center says a health plan may be employing artificial intelligence in discovery without consultation or permission, telling the federal judge in Ohio overseeing its Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) case in a joint status report that the plan’s production of hundreds of thousands of documents is moving along at a “glacial” pace without any apparent intent to meet obligations in a stipulation. In their portion of the report, the health plan defendants say they disclosed their intent to use a “computer-assisted platform,” that even evidence identified by such tools requires validation and that perceived problems with production ignore those difficulties and the likelihood that deadlines will be met.
August 29, 2024
Production Of Full Funding Agreement Ordered In DUFTA Case Involving Insurer

WILMINGTON, Del. — Saying his relevance conclusion sprang from “the class action context . . . and the express terms of the Funding Agreement itself,” a Delaware Chancery Court vice chancellor ordered the plaintiffs in a suit over an alleged scheme to strip capital from an insurance subsidiary on which many policyholders depend for long-term care (LTC) disability benefits to produce the funding and contingent fee agreements in their entirety.
August 29, 2024
Subcontractor Must Supplement Responses; Insurer’s Motion To Bifurcate Granted

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Kentucky federal judge ordered a subcontractor to supplement a number of its responses to an insurer’s requests for admissions and bifurcated the insureds’ bad faith claims from the insurer’s coverage claim in a suit filed by an insurer against its insured contractor and subcontractor because bifurcation would avoid any potential prejudice to the insurer by a jury.
August 26, 2024
Honeywell Prevails In California Motion Seeking Genetic Testing

OAKLAND, Calif. — A man who suffered from two past cancers and whose brother also contracted mesothelioma must sit for a saliva or blood draw to determine whether he suffers from BAP1 cancer predisposition syndrome (BCPS), a California judge said in a tentative ruling granting a defense motion.
August 26, 2024
Untimely Expert Report Ultimately Sinks FELA Asbestos Case, N.J. Court Says

TRENTON, N.J. — A woman’s submission of an expert report nearly three months after the close of discovery was untimely and properly excluded, and without it she cannot meet the causation standard under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA), a New Jersey appellate court said in an unpublished opinion affirming summary judgment in an asbestos case.
August 26, 2024
Document Production Motion Denied In Suit Over Amazon ‘Tricking’ Prime Consumers

SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge denied a motion to compel production of documents filed by Amazon.com Inc. and its officers, who were sued by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over the defendants allegedly “tricking” customers into enrolling in the Amazon Prime service, finding in part that the documents sought, including internal FTC communications, are not relevant to the FTC’s interpretation of a federal law the defendants are accused of violating.
August 23, 2024
California High Court Restores Discovery Abuse Sanction Against Los Angeles

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Civil Discovery Act gives a trial court the authority to impose sanctions for a pattern of discovery abuse, the California Supreme Court held Aug. 22, reversing an appellate court and reinstating $2.5 million in discovery sanctions imposed by a trial court against Los Angeles in its years-long dispute with the contractor it hired to modernize the billing system for its utilities.
August 21, 2024
Judge Sets Hearing Date In Ad Tech Antitrust Suit As To Google’s Chat Deletion

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A Virginia federal judge issued an order setting a hearing date to address an adverse inference motion filed by the U.S. government and 17 states related to Google’s purported deletion of chat evidence and the plaintiffs’ argument that Google’s auto deletion policy of internal company chats after 24 hours has harmed them in their antitrust violation suit accusing the tech giant of monopolizing the online digital advertising market.
August 20, 2024
Asbestos Defendants’ Letter Advises Court Of Disclosure Of Genetic Testing

TRENTON, N.J. — A year after telling the court that no genetic testing occurred on a woman suffering from mesothelioma, plaintiffs for the first time disclosed that the woman underwent genetic testing more than a year prior, automobile defendants tell a judge in New Jersey in an Aug. 19 letter.
August 20, 2024
Judges Authoring Dissent, Concurrence Warn About AI Impact On Evidence Rules

BALTIMORE — Maryland Supreme Court judges authoring a concurrence and dissent in a criminal case affirming admission of video evidence based on circumstantial evidence and the reasonable juror standard issued warnings about the potential impact on court rules and procedures from the “age of artificial intelligence,” saying courts will grapple with the issues sooner rather than later.
August 20, 2024
4th Circuit Stays Expert Subpoena Case Pending Asbestos Case’s Dismissal

RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 19 stayed a case involving a subpoena seeking information from asbestos expert Theresa Emory’s employer pending a decision from another court on whether to grant with prejudice a plaintiff’s motion to voluntarily dismiss his action relying on the expert’s study case.
August 20, 2024
Colorado Panel Affirms Injunction Against Sheriff For Late Discovery Production

DENVER — Finding that a law enforcement agency is subject to Colorado Rule of Criminal Procedure 16’s requirement that a prosecutor ensure the flow of information between investigative personnel and his office so he can make sure that the accused is provided with all materials and information pertaining to the charged offense in a timely manner, a state appellate court affirmed judgment for a district attorney in his declaratory and injunctive relief action against a county sheriff and his office.
August 15, 2024
Amici Decry Discovery Ruling In FirstEnergy Bribery Securities Case

CINCINNATI — A coalition of 39 law firms was one of four groups to file amicus curiae briefs in the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in support of an energy company’s petition for a writ of mandamus, echoing the company’s argument that an Ohio federal judge inappropriately ruled that internal investigation reports about the company’s bribes to an Ohio state representative were not subject to attorney-client privilege in a securities complaint stemming from the bribery; the law firms say the ruling has the potential to severely damage companies’ ability to perform internal investigations.
August 14, 2024
Parties Brief Need To Stay 4th Circuit Appeal Over Talc Study Subpoena

RICHMOND, Va. — Frequent asbestos defendant American International Industries (AII) and a medical provider it subpoenaed over an article on talc causation briefed the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on whether it should stay the appeal pending resolution a motion for voluntarily dismissal in the underlying tort case.