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Mealey's Discovery

  • July 22, 2025

    Split Pennsylvania Panel Deems 2 Hospital Reports Privileged In Negligence Suit

    PHILADELPHIA — Partly reversing and remanding a trial court’s ruling requiring a hospital operator to submit internal reports to the parents of a child at the center of a birth injury negligence lawsuit, a Pennsylvania Superior Court panel majority concluded that two of the reports were prepared in accordance with a federal patient safety reporting law and, thus, qualified for privilege as “patient safety work product.”

  • July 22, 2025

    No Coverage Owed For Damaged AC Units Because Hotel Was Vacant, Panel Affirms

    CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals determined that a lower federal court’s discovery sanctions against a hotel owner insured were “an appropriate, proportionate response” to the insured’s failure to produce requested documents as to the hotel’s occupancy and not an abuse of discretion, affirming a lower court’s ruling that there was no coverage owed for the hotel’s damaged air conditioner units because the hotel was vacant at the time of the vandalism and the insurer did not act in bad faith.

  • July 22, 2025

    Asbestos Defendant Wants Sanctions For Late Disclosure Of Talc Bottle

    SEATTLE — American International Industries told a Washington State judge that the problems created by the failure to disclose a bottle of talc before testing are not cured by withdrawing the evidence and resulting opinion and that evidentiary and monetary sanctions are required.

  • July 21, 2025

    Panel Tosses CERCLA, State Claims, Says Sanctions Valid In N.Y. Site Cleanup Case

    NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that a six-year statute of limitations pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act commenced on an alloy and metal processing company’s claims for reimbursement of millions of dollars for response costs and damages associated with the release of hazardous substances at the site of a New York metal recycling operation and that spoliation sanctions for the company’s destruction of more than 23,000 pounds of documents was, in fact, warranted.

  • July 18, 2025

    ‘Blanket’ Protective Order In Farmworkers’ Suit Found Restrictive By 9th Circuit

    SEATTLE — A protective order issued by a trial court in a forced labor class action is overly restrictive, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, because of the “presumptively public” nature of discovery and the lack of good cause to prevent the plaintiffs’ counsel from using the discovered items in similar worker advocacy matters.

  • July 16, 2025

    Magistrate Judge: Admission By J&J Spinoff That Talc Contains Asbestos Not Needed

    NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A Virginia federal magistrate judge has determined that plaintiff-side experts whose scientific study shows a connection between talc use and asbestos disease cannot conduct discovery in a trade libel suit filed against them by Johnson & Johnson spinoff Pecos River Talc LLC to determine whether the company knew that repeated exposure to cosmetic talc can cause mesothelioma.

  • July 15, 2025

    After Settlement Notice, Judge Moots Motions In Web-Based Retailers Trademark Row

    DENVER — After a fencing company and the web-based retailers it sued over alleged trademark infringement notified the court that the parties entered into a settlement agreement, a Colorado federal judge on July 14 issued a docket-only order denying as moot motions to dismiss and for an extension of time related to discovery.

  • July 15, 2025

    11th Circuit: Default Judgment Sanction For Spoliated Video Requires Bad Faith

    ATLANTA — Affirming a trial court’s denial of a request for default judgment sanctions over surveillance and bodycam video footage that was purportedly not preserved, an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel stressed that the appellants, who were suing police for false arrest, did not establish the necessary bad faith to justify such an extreme sanction.

  • July 15, 2025

    Judge Sanctions IP Lawyer For Giving Netflix Info To 3rd Party In Patent Row

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge ordered sanctions against an attorney from Ramey LLP who formerly represented a pro se plaintiff in a patent infringement dispute brought against Netflix Inc., holding that the attorney inappropriately shared discovery information with a third party the court previously blocked from being joined to the litigation.

  • July 15, 2025

    While Meta Seeks Mandamus Over Zuckerberg Deposition, Plaintiffs Move To Enforce

    SAN FRANCISCO — Three days after Meta Platforms Inc. filed a petition for mandamus with the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, contending that the “apex doctrine” precludes a trial court’s order for the deposition of Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg, the plaintiffs alleging privacy violations from Meta’s purported gathering of their personal health information (PHI) from hospital websites asked the lower court to enforce the deposition order.

  • July 15, 2025

    School District Asks High Court To Resolve Conflicting FERPA Interpretations

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Asserting that the congressional intent behind the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) was to prevent the disclosure of student materials without the consent of students or parents, a school district filed a petition for certiorari, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to clear up conflicting court interpretations over enforcement of the statute alongside state public records acts (PRAs) and to find that it properly withheld surveillance videos sought in connection with bullying complaints.

  • July 14, 2025

    Musk’s Business Emails Subject To Email Discovery In AI Suit, Magistrate Judge Says

    SAN FRANCISCO — Elon Musk’s business emails across the spectrum of companies where he serves as a high-level executive are not in the hands of third parties, and he is responsible for producing them in his suit against OpenAI Inc. and related entities, a federal magistrate judge in California said.

  • July 11, 2025

    Judge Issues ‘Admonition’ To Amazon Regarding Privilege Log In FTC Suit Over Prime

    SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge on July 10 issued an “admonition” in response to the Federal Trade Commission’s motion seeking sanctions against Amazon.com Inc. for Amazon’s alleged use of its privilege log to hide evidence in a suit accusing Amazon and its officers of tricking customers into enrolling in the Amazon Prime service.

  • July 10, 2025

    Experts Must Produce Names Of Meso Study Subjects To J&J Spinoff, Magistrate Says

    NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Plaintiffs’ asbestos experts accused of trade libel by Johnson & Johnson spinoff Pecos River Talc LLC must produce the names of mesothelioma study participants because their identities “are relevant, proportional to the needs of the case, and are not privileged,” a Virginia federal magistrate judge ruled.

  • July 10, 2025

    Panel Vacates Bank Worker’s Vaccine Exemption Denial, Affirms Discovery Sanctions

    NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel determined, in partially vacating and remanding a federal judge’s order, “that disputed issues of material fact preclude summary judgment” on one of two New York bank employees’ claims that her religious beliefs exempted her from receiving a COVID-19 vaccine after the employees were terminated for not getting vaccinated to return to work after the pandemic but agreed that the judge was correct in imposing discovery sanctions related to the employees’ lawsuit alleging religious freedom, First Amendment and Title VII violations.

  • July 09, 2025

    Device Maker Tells High Court Shortened Discovery Timeline Tainted Patent Trial

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A medical product company tells the U.S. Supreme Court that a North Carolina federal court violated its due process rights by changing both the time to trial and the time for discovery in a patent infringement case for which the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has already ordered a new trial.

  • July 08, 2025

    Parties Outline Discovery Positions For Phase II Of ESOP Lawsuit

    PHOENIX — Litigation continues in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over a $105 million employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) deal after a bench trial, with a joint filing in Arizona federal court where the parties dispute whether a recreational vehicle company should participate in “Phase II” discovery.

  • July 07, 2025

    Asbestos-Talc Company Wants Full Genetic Testing Of Mesothelioma Sufferer

    LOS ANGELES — Having successfully blocked a 40-year-old mesothelioma sufferer’s attempt to gain trial preference, an asbestos-talc defendant asked a California judge to compel full genetic testing, saying it was the only way to get to the heart of causation and damages in the case.

  • July 07, 2025

    States Back Asbestos Defendants Seeking To Stop Trust Document Destruction

    WILMINGTON, Del. — Ten states in an amicus curiae brief tell a judge in Delaware that destruction of asbestos trust documents would encourage fraud and mismanagement and undercut state laws determining that such evidence is relevant and discoverable in pending and potential asbestos personal injury suits.

  • July 03, 2025

    Ghanaian Insurer Sends Letters Rogatory In Reinsurance Breach Of Contract Row

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge on July 2 directed the issuance of letters rogatory to a Ghanaian insurer and three of its employees to acquire otherwise unobtainable information as part of a gold mining equipment dispute over whether the defendants are direct insurers or reinsurers of the plaintiffs.

  • July 03, 2025

    Oklahoma High Court: Execution Drug Info Is Privileged By Law

    OKLAHOMA CITY — A trial court correctly found that information a man sought from the Oklahoma Department of Corrections (DOC) is privileged under a state confidentiality law and not susceptible to discovery under the Oklahoma Open Records Act (ORA), an Oklahoma Supreme Court majority ruled, also finding that a newly revised version of the confidentiality law further confirmed this and is not unconstitutional.

  • July 03, 2025

    Report Advising Sanctions For Lost Text Messages Accepted In Insurance Coverage Row

    MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota federal judge accepted a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation advising granting sanctions only as to an adverse inference instruction related to the purported destruction of text messages by an insured, a Minneapolis event center, in the insurer’s suit seeking a declaration that it does not need to pay an appraisal award of $986,436 related to business income loss the insurer says was based upon “concealed and misrepresented material facts and circumstances willfully and with intent to defraud.”

  • July 02, 2025

    High Court Rejects Micron’s Mandamus Bid To Protect Source Code

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an American chip maker’s request for relief from a California federal judge’s discovery order requiring it to turn its source code over to a Chinese rival in a patent infringement dispute.

  • June 30, 2025

    Supreme Court Won’t Hear Dispute Over 4th Amendment Search Of Financial Records

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In its June 30 order list, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari to a bitcoin user on his question over whether the Internal Revenue Service violated the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution with the warrantless seizure of users’ financial records from a digital currency exchange.

  • June 30, 2025

    D.C. Circuit Upholds Default Judgment As Discovery Sanction In Shipping Act Suit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found that the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) properly entered default judgment against a shipping company that refused to comply with its discovery orders in a lawsuit brought against it by a client under the Shipping Act of 1984 (SA).