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

Mealey's Discovery

November 30, 2023
In GitHub AI Copyright Suit, Parties Told To Meet, Confer Not Move To Compel

SAN FRANCISCO — While a California federal court mulls a second round of motions from OpenAI Inc., GitHub Inc. and Microsoft Corp. seeking dismissal of claims under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and California’s unfair competition law (UCL) related to allegations of improper attribution in the development of an artificial intelligence tool, a magistrate judge denied the plaintiffs’ motion to compel discovery responses in favor of a directive for the parties to meet and confer about discovery disputes.
November 29, 2023
Judge Directs Production Of Reinsurance Info In Suit Over Fire Loss Coverage

NEW YORK — Rejecting an insurer’s argument that reinsurance information isn’t relevant to a breach of contract suit over fire-related claims, a New York federal judge on Nov. 28 directed that the requested information be produced unless there was another reason to withhold or redact it.
November 29, 2023
Federal Judge OKs Revised Responses To RFAs In Breach Case Involving Reinsurance

NEW ALBANY, Ind. — Saying in part that the move “promotes the presentation of the merits of the action,” an Indiana federal magistrate judge allowed plaintiffs in a breach-of-contract case involving a quota share reinsurance agreement to amend their responses to requests for admissions (RFAs).
November 28, 2023
Judge Says Motion To Compel Documents In Flint Tort Claims Act Case Is ‘Moot’

DETROIT — A federal judge in Michigan has denied a motion to compel production of unredacted versions of documents in litigation seeking $722.4 million under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) related to the Flint water crisis, ruling that the motion is moot because the U.S. government produced an unredacted version of one of the documents at issue, and the plaintiffs failed to comply with pre-filing requirements with regard to the other documents.
November 27, 2023
In Miami Bridge Project Row, Federal Magistrate Judge Orders Production Of Reports

MIAMI — Minutes and monthly reports from the executive committee meetings of a joint venture in charge of constructing a major bridge in Miami, which has suffered construction setbacks, must be produced because the documents were prepared in the ordinary course of business pursuant to the terms of the joint venture agreement, a Florida federal magistrate judge found in granting a defendant-engineering firm’s motion to compel production.
November 22, 2023
New York Plaintiff: Defendant Conducts Clandestine Testing On Talc Bottles

NEW YORK — A defendant refuses to return bottles of talc produced in discovery, instead performing clandestine testing on the evidence without disclosure or permission, a man tells a New York justice in a motion to compel.
November 22, 2023
Plaintiff Loses Fiduciary Exception Dispute In ERISA Privilege Ruling

SAN DIEGO — Finding that fiduciary exception to attorney-client privilege does not apply to the communications in issue in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act case, a California federal magistrate judge ruled for the defendants in a discovery dispute involving a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO).
November 21, 2023
Additional Exhibits In Water Case Do Not Support Sanctions, Government Says

HONOLULU — The U.S. government on Nov. 20 filed a brief in Hawaii federal court arguing that it should deny plaintiffs’ motion for discovery sanctions because they failed to meet the requirements for an adverse inference under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(e)(2) in their claim that the government destroyed text message electronic evidence related to drinking water contamination issues at a military facility that stores jet fuel.
November 21, 2023
Hedge Fund Gets ‘Crumbs,’ Not ‘Cookies,’ In Delaware Ruling On Nonpublic Info

WILMINGTON, Del. — Saying a hedge fund “only demonstrated its entitlement to a few crumbs,” a vice chancellor of the Delaware Chancery Court on Nov. 20 ruled that it is entitled to little of the nonpublic information it seeks on a captive reinsurer that issued dividends totaling approximately $1.2 billion.
November 20, 2023
Dismissal, Protective Order Denied In WhatsApp, NSO Spyware Suit

OAKLAND, Calif. — An Israeli spyware firm saw two of its motions denied by a California federal judge in a computer fraud suit brought against it by WhatsApp Inc., as she denied a motion to dismiss for forum non conveniens and declined to issue a protective order barring much of the discovery sought by the plaintiff.
November 20, 2023
U.S. High Court Denies Insurance Regulator’s Review Bid In Corporate Privacy Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As urged by the U.S. government, the U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 20 denied a petition by the Delaware Department of Insurance (DDOI) for review of a corporate privacy case involving microcaptive insurance company information and the McCarran-Ferguson Act (MFA).
November 17, 2023
Judge Stays Discovery Pending Appeal Of Immunity Ruling In Drinking Water Case

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A federal judge in Michigan has granted a stay of discovery pending an appeal in a lead-contaminated water lawsuit, ruling that whether the defendants are entitled to qualified immunity is “an abstract issue of law suitable for appellate review.”
November 16, 2023
Judge Vacates Sanctions Against Attorneys After $9.7M Asbestos Verdict

MILWAUKEE — A Wisconsin judge vacated sanctions against attorneys for discovery violations, saying there was nothing specific tying the attorneys to the company’s untimely disclosure of more than 1,500 documents related to a man’s workplace in an asbestos case that netted a $9.7 million verdict.
November 14, 2023
Law Firm: New York Conduct Didn’t Warrant Sanction In Asbestos Fee Dispute

RICHMOND, Va. — The “obvious linkage” standard a federal judge in Maryland applied for conduct in a separate case filed in a separate court gives courts expansive power to sanction, a law firm embroiled in a dispute over fees involving asbestos bankruptcy trust cases tells the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a Nov. 13 brief.
November 13, 2023
Judge: Target, Investor Must Show Discovery Stay Applies To Non-Class Actions

FORT MYERS, Fla. — A federal judge in Florida ordered both a shareholder and Target Corp. to file additional briefing related to a jointly filed request for a stay of discovery under a section of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (PSLRA), noting that the section explicitly specifies that it is for class disputes, while the shareholder’s complaint alleging that false statements about Target’s LGBTQ+ Pride collection caused a loss in stock value is not a class complaint.
November 13, 2023
Reserve Information In COVID-19 Coverage Suit Not Relevant To Bad Faith Claim

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California federal magistrate judge denied an insured’s motion to compel documents related to the reserve set by an insurer in response to the insured’s claim for business losses sustained in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic after determining that the reserve information is not relevant to the insured’s bad faith claim because only a nominal reserve was set by the insurer and no changes were made to the reserve since the coverage claim was filed.
November 13, 2023
11th Circuit Upholds Jury Instructions, Sanctions Ruling In Bitcoin Ownership Row

ATLANTA — Deferring to a trial court’s ruling, an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found no error or abuse of discretion in the lower court’s jury instructions, vacating of a sanctions ruling or denial of a new trial motion in finding that a Florida man and his deceased colleague did not have a bitcoin mining partnership that would have entitled the decedent’s estate to half of the value of the voluminous cache of mined bitcoin.
November 09, 2023
Judge Allows Untimely Asbestos Expert Reports But Reopens Depositions

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Clerical oversight appears to be behind the failure to timely produce expert opinions in a long-running asbestos action, and what little prejudice could result from admitting two untimely reports can be cured by allowing the plaintiffs to re-depose their own experts, a federal judge in Montana said Nov. 8 in denying the plaintiffs’ motion to strike the two reports.
November 08, 2023
Baltimore Police Department Told To Supplement Discovery In Title VII Suit

BALTIMORE — Finding that the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) complied with some of the discovery requests from an officer suing it for discrimination and retaliation and noting the department’s inability to produce some requested documents, a Maryland federal magistrate judge directed the defendant to supplement its responses in some categories and to provide further explanations and documentation in others.
November 07, 2023
Magistrate Agrees To Seal Sanctions Hearing In Meta Privacy Consolidated Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — The California federal magistrate judge overseeing discovery matters in the putative consolidated class action over the alleged sharing of protected health information (PHI) by Meta Platforms Inc. on Nov. 6 provisionally granted the technology firm’s unopposed motion to seal the hearing over whether it should be subject to sanctions for purportedly not providing complete responses to the plaintiffs’ requests for production (RFPs).
November 07, 2023
Discovery Will Start In Crop Insurance Row Despite Regulators’ Stay Bid

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Without explanation, a Michigan federal judge denied a motion to stay discovery as to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Federal Crop Insurance Corp. (FCIC) until resolution of their dismissal bid in a suit over crop insurance claims that the plaintiffs say have not been adjusted in more than three years.
November 03, 2023
Chapter 7 Trustee Seeks Return Of $59.7 Million To Asbestos Debtor’s Estate

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A Connecticut federal bankruptcy judge ordered briefing on an emergency request by the Chapter 7 trustee for debtor The Nash Engineering Co. to conduct discovery for the trustee’s fraudulent transfer adversary action seeking the return of $59.7 million from shareholders to the debtor’s estate.
November 02, 2023
Federal Judge Won’t Compel Asbestos Trust Claims Under North Dakota Law

FARGO, N.D. — Nothing in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure permits a court to enforce a North Dakota law mandating the filing of claims with asbestos bankruptcy trusts given that such claims are not required where the costs would exceed recovery, and since the plaintiffs responded to interrogatories by stating that they have not filed any such claims, the court lacks any grounds to compel further response, a federal judge in North Dakota said.
November 02, 2023
Asbestos-Talc Companies: Supplemental Report Improperly Contains New Information

NEW YORK — A man opposing a motion to preclude supplementation of an expert report “hopes that this court has amnesia” about the lack of epidemiological evidence linking talc and mesothelioma or that other courts have found asbestos expert Jacqueline Moline’s opinions spurious, defendant companies tell a federal judge in New York.
October 27, 2023
Residents Insist Sanctions Warranted In Water Case Due To Destruction Of Evidence

HONOLULU — Residents who are suing the U.S. government on Oct. 26 filed a reply brief in Hawaii federal court contending that sanctions are warranted because the government admits to destroying text message electronic evidence of two senior military leaders involved in the response to drinking water contamination that has been traced to errors made by personnel in charge of a jet fuel storage facility.