Mealey's Discovery

  • September 11, 2024

    Manufacturer Of Embryo Culture Media Wins Dismissal In Suit Over Loss Of Embryos

    OAKLAND, Calif. — A California federal judge granted motions to dismiss filed by the manufacturer of embryo culture media and its subsidiary in a case in which a couple alleges that a defective solution that was used in the fertility procedure caused none of their fertilized eggs to survive to the blastocyst stage.

  • September 11, 2024

    Magistrate Partially Grants Insured’s Motion To Compel Discovery In Yacht Damage Row

    KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A Kansas federal magistrate judge on Sept. 10 granted, in part, a motion to compel discovery filed by an insured in a coverage dispute in which an insurer seeks a determination that a yacht that was damaged is excluded from coverage, finding in part, that because some of the discovery requests are overbroad, the court must limit them.

  • September 11, 2024

    Massachusetts High Court Affirms Snapchat Surveillance Case Dismissal

    BOSTON — The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court affirmed dismissal of a case that the commonwealth brought against a man accused of unlawful firearm possession and related crimes after the man tried for three years to get the commonwealth to produce discovery related to the Boston Police Department’s undercover monitoring of Snapchat social media accounts, finding that “discovery was relevant and material” and that the judge’s dismissal was not an abuse of discretion because the department and commonwealth did not “make any attempt to comply” with the judge’s discovery order.

  • September 10, 2024

    Judge Says DuPont Must Produce Material Held In 36 Boxes Related To PFAS Case

    FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — A discovery referee in North Carolina has ruled that affiliates of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. (referred to as Old DuPont) must provide the state of North Carolina with discoverable information contained in 36 boxes in Old DuPont’s possession, and he ruled that Old DuPont must provide the state with copies of its document retention policies that apply to materials stored at a facility called Iron Mountain.

  • September 10, 2024

    Petition On Third-Party Subpoena Prehearing Issue Is Voluntarily Dismissed

    DETROIT — Two weeks after filing a petition to compel compliance with third-party subpoenas for prehearing discovery depositions, an insurer filed a notice of voluntary dismissal without prejudice and a Michigan federal court accordingly dismissed the suit that concerned a $950,742.64 dispute over a medical excess reinsurance agreement that has gone to arbitration.

  • 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.

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