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Mealey's Discovery

  • December 09, 2025

    W.Va. Federal Judge Schedules Hearing To Consider Discovery Order in Opioid Case

    WHEELING, W.Va. — A West Virginia federal judge on Dec. 9 scheduled a hearing to consider two motions filed by a pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) facing allegations that its actions contributed to an “oversupply” of prescription opioids throughout West Virginia, asking the court to reconsider and issue an emergency stay of the court’s order that compelled the PBM to release nationwide prescription and remuneration data.

  • December 09, 2025

    2nd Circuit Affirms Discovery Stay, Fee Denial In Civil Forfeiture Case

    NEW YORK — Ruling against the appellant on all points except the one regarding which the U.S. government conceded that it had erred, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed that a five-month discovery stay in a civil forfeiture action did not constitute a violation of the appellant’s due process rights and that his request for attorney fees and costs under the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000 (CAFRA) was properly denied.

  • December 09, 2025

    Recap Of Some Major Rulings And Developments In AI-Copyright Cases In 2025

    It has been more than five years since a news organization filed the first lawsuit challenging the training of artificial intelligence using copyrighted material.  Since that time, there have been dozens of similar suits filed, the creation of multidistrict litigation, certification of a class action, several ground-breaking rulings and one potentially precedent-setting settlement.  This story looks at some of the biggest developments in the litigation in 2025 and where those cases stand now.

  • December 08, 2025

    In 5-2 Ruling, Minnesota High Court Affirms Conviction Reversal Over DNA Swab

    ST. PAUL, Minn. — In a 5-2 ruling concerning a warrantless buccal swab that was used for a DNA test, the Minnesota Supreme Court overruled a 1998 decision and partly overruled a 1985 decision, concluding in part that “neither the inevitable discovery nor the good-faith exceptions to the exclusionary rule apply.”

  • December 04, 2025

    Magistrate Judge Affirms OpenAI Must Produce 20 Million ChatGPT Chat Logs

    SAN FRANCISCO — OpenAI Inc. defendants must produce 20 million ChatGPT outputs in a consolidated copyright action against it, a magistrate judge in New York affirmed in denying a motion for reconsideration after finding the evidence relevant and proportionate.

  • December 04, 2025

    Magistrate Judge Orders OpenAI To Produce Dataset-Deletion Communications

    NEW YORK — OpenAI Inc. entities waived any attorney-client privilege protecting communications by offering shifting positions that resulted in the disclosure of some of the purportedly privileged reasons for the deletions and by putting their state of mind at issue, a federal magistrate judge in New York said in ordering production of the evidence.

  • December 03, 2025

    Discovery Inadequacy Prompts Partial Grant Of Motion To Compel In $250M Asset Suit

    WILMINGTON, Del. — The Delaware Chancery Court partially granted a motion to compel in a dispute over a complex asset-swap arrangement referred to as the “Agera transactions” that the plaintiffs allege resulted in the “dissipation of at least $250 million,” finding that the plaintiffs’ discovery responses, which include untimely and inadequate privilege logs, are deficient under Delaware law and warrant multiple waivers and compelled production.

  • December 02, 2025

    Standing Is Focus Of High Court Argument In Suit Over Pregnancy Center Subpoena

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Dec. 2 in a dispute concerning the New Jersey attorney general’s subpoena for information including the identity of pregnancy center donors, with the petitioner contending that the center operator had standing to sue in federal court as soon as the subpoena was issued and the respondent countering that standing requirements are still unsatisfied.

  • December 02, 2025

    4th Circuit Revives Part Of Detainee’s Suit, Rules That Evidence Was Admissible

    RICHMOND, Va. — Concluding in part that some of the trial court’s evidentiary decisions were wrong, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed summary judgment against the appellant on several counts in his suit alleging that several serious blood clots were attributable to a lack of proper medical care while he was a pretrial detainee in county jails.

  • December 01, 2025

    Discovery Motion Denied For Lack Of Good Cause In FCA Suit Over Coding ‘Fraud’

    NEW YORK — A New York federal magistrate judge denied a motion by insurer Anthem Inc. seeking to serve a request for production (RFP) on the U.S. government in its suit against Anthem alleging violations of the federal False Claims Act (FCA) related to alleged inaccurate diagnosis codes submitted to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for services provided to Anthem’s Medicare beneficiaries, finding that Anthem failed to show good cause for the RFP request.

  • December 01, 2025

    Louisiana High Court Lets Sealed Ex Parte Subpoenas Stand Pending Determination

    NEW ORLEANS — With a Louisiana Supreme Court panel issuing a partial reversal and remand that drew one concurrence and three dissents in a per curiam ruling granting a request for a supervisory writ, the majority let an order sealing ex parte subpoenas duces tecum stand “until the trial court has ruled on remand.”

  • November 26, 2025

    Judge Halts DOJ From Obtaining Minors’ Gender Dysphoria Treatment Info

    PHILADELPHIA — The U.S. Department of Justice will not be permitted to obtain the personal information of minors seeking treatment for gender-affirming care from a Philadelphia hospital, a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled, granting the hospital’s motion to limit a subpoena in which the DOJ sought information about certain drugs and treatments.

  • November 25, 2025

    DOJ Opposes Armed Robber’s Certiorari Petition Over Google Geofence Warrant

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Justice filed a brief on behalf of the U.S. government on Nov. 24, opposing a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a convicted bank robber, asserting that any mistakes that were potentially made in serving a geofence location-tracking warrant on Google LLC were outweighed by the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution under which the petitioner sought to exclude this evidence.

  • November 25, 2025

    Judge Terminates Case Of Pro Se Plaintiffs She Says Submitted AI-Altered Evidence

    OAKLAND, Calif. — A California judge upheld a sanction terminating pro se plaintiffs’ action for submitting what she found to be artificial intelligence-generated or otherwise altered videos and text messages as exhibits in a landlord-tenant case.

  • November 24, 2025

    N.Y. Appellate Court Affirms Order Requiring Production Of Reinsurance Agreement

    NEW YORK — The First Department New York Supreme Court Appellate Division unanimously affirmed a prior order requiring an insurer to produce copies of its reinsurance agreements in the Archdiocese of New York’s coverage dispute arising from nearly 1,700 underlying sexual abuse lawsuits, holding that the state’s discovery rule governing insurance agreements extends to reinsurance contracts and that recent legislative amendments do not limit disclosure.

  • November 24, 2025

    Company Points To More Evidence Supporting Mesothelioma-Talc Subpoena

    NEW YORK — A fourth ruling confirms that a subpoena properly targeted information about a study of individuals who developed mesothelioma and whose only known exposure to asbestos was through talc, a company told a federal judge in New York in opposing sanctions.

  • November 20, 2025

    Response Waived To High Court Petition On Witness Preclusion Without Bad Faith

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States filed a Nov. 19 waiver of its right to respond to a certiorari petition “unless requested to do so by the Court”; the U.S. Supreme Court petition was filed by a man the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said was convicted of defrauding Medicare after the trial court denied his “request to present the testimony of an unindicted co-conspirator who turned up as a surprise witness on the last day of trial.”

  • November 19, 2025

    Spain Seeks To Quash Subpoena For Financial Records In 79M Euro ICSID Award Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Kingdom of Spain on Nov. 18 moved in District of Columbia federal court to quash a subpoena for records of wire transfers involving dozens of Spain-related entities, writing that the motion is a premature and unreasonable effort to enforce a confirmed International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) arbitral award against Spain worth more than 79.5 million euros.

  • November 19, 2025

    Delaware Court Stays Case During Asbestos Bankruptcy Document Appeal

    WILMINGTON, Del. — The Delaware Chancery Court granted a stipulated stay on Nov. 18 after certifying an interlocutory appeal of its ruling allowing asbestos litigants to proceed on their case seeking to enjoin asbestos bankruptcy trusts from destroying claims documents.

  • November 19, 2025

    Judge Won’t Permit Discovery In LTD Dispute Where Claimant Declined Remand

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge declined to remand a dispute over terminated long-term disability (LTD) benefits to the insurer for review on the merits, explaining that any remedy would be “premature” because she had not yet reviewed the termination decision, then in a memorandum endorsement denied the claimant’s subsequent request for discovery and cautioned that any attempt to increase the insurer’s legal fees “is likely to backfire.”

  • November 18, 2025

    6th Circuit Won’t Rehear Decision Vacating Deposition Order Against FirstEnergy

    CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied investors’ petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc seeking clarification of its order granting FirstEnergy Corp.’s petition for mandamus vacating a lower court’s production order, agreeing with FirstEnergy Corp. that the panel’s decision vacated the lower court’s deposition testimony order because there is no distinction between deposition testimony and investigatory documents from law firms retained by FirstEnergy.

  • November 17, 2025

    Deponent Ordered To Pay More Than $60,000 For Fees, Costs In Health Plan Case

    CHICAGO — An Illinois federal magistrate judge who previously determined that a deponent’s “obstructive and combative behavior and dilatory tactics” warranted three extra hours of deposition and monetary sanctions awarded more than half of the $105,875.20 requested for related attorney fees in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action that challenges the expenses and allocations by trustees of a nationwide multiemployer health plan.

  • November 14, 2025

    Plaintiffs Get Discovery Extension, Extra Depositions In TIAA Cross-Selling Case

    NEW YORK — Over opposition from nonparties and defendants in a putative class Employee Retirement Income Security Act case potentially involving participants in thousands of retirement plans, a New York federal judge on Nov. 13 extended the fact discovery deadline and authorized the plaintiffs to take 10 additional depositions of nonparty plan sponsors.

  • November 14, 2025

    OpenAI Must Produce 20 Million Chat Logs, Magistrate Judge Says

    SAN FRANCISCO — OpenAI entities must produce 20 million ChatGPT chat logs after a federal magistrate judge in New York said the company never explained why existing protective orders and its own de-identification efforts would not sufficiently protect user privacy.

  • November 13, 2025

    Insurers’ Objections To Discovery Orders Substantially Overruled In COVID-19 Suit

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York substantially overruled insurers’ objections to discovery orders that granted in part and denied in part a holding company for the U.S. interests in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group’s motion to compel the insurers to produce certain documents they have withheld as privileged in a coronavirus coverage dispute.