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Mealey's Discovery

July 05, 2024
Microsoft, OpenAI Defend Need For Consolidation Of Media AI Suits

NEW YORK — Companies at the heart of suits over artificial intelligence urged a federal judge in New York in July 3 reply briefs to consolidate two cases brought by various newspapers and grant additional time for discovery required by the sprawling nature of the allegations.
July 03, 2024
Tribes’ Privilege Question Goes Unanswered As High Court Deems Suit Moot

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An appeal over the scope of the legislative privilege by two Native American tribes was mooted by a trial court ruling in the underlying voter redistricting dispute, the U.S. Supreme Court held in its July 2 order list, in which it granted the tribes’ request to vacate an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals mandamus petition related to two discovery orders.
July 03, 2024
Judge Allows Discovery To Be Reopened Before Trial In Groundwater Pollution Case

OKLAHOMA CITY — A federal judge in Oklahoma has ruled that an oil and gas exploration company that is a defendant in a groundwater contamination case may reopen discovery for the limited purpose of inspecting specific items on the plaintiffs’ property before trial because the plaintiffs will “face no undue or unfair prejudice” as a result.
July 02, 2024
Citing Prudential, Appellees Urge 3rd Circuit To Affirm Securities Row Dismissal

PHILADELPHIA — Arguing primarily that City of Warren Police and Fire Ret. Sys. v. Prudential Fin. is dispositive, a reinsurer and three former executives urge the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to uphold discovery and summary judgment rulings in a suit over allegations that they violated federal securities laws by omitting historical loss ratios from loss reserves disclosures.
July 01, 2024
3rd Parties In Train Derailment Case Want Norfolk Southern’s Evidence Stricken

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — Third-party defendants in the litigation against Norfolk Southern Railway Co. and Norfolk Southern Corp. (Norfolk Southern, collectively) related to toxic chemicals spilled during the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, have filed a reply brief in Ohio federal court arguing that “Norfolk Southern’s failure to comply with this Court’s order, especially given its concession that it only seeks derivative damages, warrants exclusion of evidence concerning its alleged remediation and response costs at trial.”
July 01, 2024
Magistrate Denies Motion To Quash Subpoena In Medicare Advantage Fraud Dispute

TAMPA, Fla. — One day after a Florida federal magistrate judge granted in part Medicare Advantage (MA) insurers’ motion to compel production of a litigation sharing agreement involving the relator in the instant case who alleged that medical providers and the insurers violated the False Claims Act (FCA), the magistrate judge on June 28 denied the insurers’ motion to quash a subpoena as untimely, finding that the delay in scheduling a deposition “will not prejudice” the insurers.
June 28, 2024
WhatsApp Seeks Letter Rogatory To Depose Spyware Firm’s Israel-Based Employees

OAKLAND, Calif. — In its motion for issuance of a letter rogatory to obtain the testimony of 11 witnesses residing in Israel, WhatsApp Inc. represents that these past and present employees of NSO Group Technologies Limited “have relevant information regarding” the company’s purported computer fraud, complaining that the defendant “has refused to make them available for depositions.”
June 27, 2024
Magistrate Denies Protective Order For Deposition In Fire Coverage Dispute

SCRANTON, Pa. — A Pennsylvania federal magistrate judge on June 26 denied an insurer’s motion for protective order regarding a proposed deposition in an insurance coverage dispute over fire damage, finding that the disputed deposition is relevant because it addresses whether the insurer knew of the alleged improper use of the covered space when previously investigating a water damage claim.
June 27, 2024
Suboxone MDL Judge Rejects Proposal By Defense For Phased Discovery

CLEVELAND — The judge overseeing the Suboxone film multidistrict litigation rejected a proposal by a defendant to phase discovery, finding “that general causation is not so clear or cleanly divisible from other general or case-specific discovery that bifurcation would materially expedite and simplify the proceedings in this MDL.”
June 26, 2024
Judge Allows Discovery Into Successor Status In Asbestos Valves Case

NEW ORLEANS — Because the only evidence of whether a company qualifies as the successor-in-interest of another is in the possession of the defendant, its motion to dismiss implicates evidence outside the pleadings and requires limited discovery into the question, a federal judge in Louisiana said in denying a motion.
June 26, 2024
Special Master Rejects J&J’s Motion To Inspect Asbestos Expert’s Lab

TRENTON, N.J. — The special master in the New Jersey federal court multidistrict litigation involving Johnson & Johnson talc denied a motion to inspect asbestos expert William Longo’s lab, saying the “unprecedented” request seeks irrelevant information and would be unduly annoying.
June 26, 2024
Special Discovery Master Does In Camera Review In Indemnification Case

TRENTON, N.J. — Following in camera review in New Jersey federal court in a dispute between insurers and reinsurers over indemnification for asbestos bodily injury claims, a special discovery master directed insurers to produce all or part of roughly two-thirds of the sample documents he considered.
June 24, 2024
Supreme Court Rejects Petition Over FOIA Request For JFK Assassination Records

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A nonprofit political assassination archive hit a dead end on June 24 in its quest to obtain documents about President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, which were redacted and withheld by the Central Intelligence Agency, when the U.S. Supreme Court denied without comment its petition for certiorari regarding questions of declassification and disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
June 21, 2024
Asbestos Expert Warns: Employee Deposition Threatens His ‘Golden Years’

ATLANTA — A non-testifying employee of asbestos expert William Longo and his lab warned that a magistrate judge’s ruling denying a motion to quash an untimely and irrelevant subpoena would doom him to spending his “golden years” giving depositions in asbestos litigation across the country.
June 19, 2024
Microsoft Joins OpenAI’s Call For Consolidation Of Media AI Suits

NEW YORK — Microsoft Corp. joined in various OpenAI entities’ motion to consolidate a suit brought by eight news organizations challenging outputs from the ChatGPT artificial intelligence and its associated programs with a similar suit filed by The New York Times Co., saying in its joinder brief filed in a federal court in New York that doing so will combine suits that challenge similar technologies.
June 18, 2024
Stay Issued In Insurer’s Breach Of Contract Suit Against Wealth Management Firm

RALEIGH, N.C. — Finding “good cause,” a North Carolina federal judge on June 17 stayed a breach of contract suit filed by a now-insolvent insurer against a wealth management company alleged to have violated a loan agreement, staying the case until the resolution of cross-motions for summary judgment in a pending related consolidated case.
June 14, 2024
J&J Can Depose Asbestos Expert Longo’s Employee, Special Master Says

TRENTON, N.J. — Johnson & Johnson entities may depose the lab employee who performed the testing on which expert William Longo relies, the special master in New Jersey involved in the federal multidistrict litigation involving asbestos-talc claims said.
June 14, 2024
Norfolk Southern: Third-Party Defendant’s Bid To Seal Is ‘Misleading On The Facts’

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — Norfolk Southern Railway Co. and Norfolk Southern Corp. (Norfolk Southern, collectively) filed a brief in Ohio federal court arguing that it should deny a motion to seal expert reports filed by a third-party defendant in the litigation stemming from alleged injuries from the release of toxic chemicals at the 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, arguing that the motion to seal is “misleading on the facts.”
June 13, 2024
Third-Party Claimant Is Entitled To Depose Insurer’s Attorney In Bad Faith Suit

TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida federal magistrate judge determined that a third-party claimant who alleges that an auto insurer acted in bad faith by failing to settle a claim against its insured is entitled to depose an attorney from the firm that represents the insurer because the financial relationship between the insurer and the law firm is relevant based on the insurer’s advice-of-counsel defense.
June 12, 2024
Judge: Monsanto Must Produce Privilege Log, Materials From Other PCB Cases

BURLINGTON, Vt. — A federal judge in Vermont on June 11 partially granted a motion to compel the production of some documents in a lawsuit over polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) brought by a Vermont school against Monsanto Co., ruling that Monsanto’s objections were “not persuasive” and that some of the company’s arguments were not supported with citation to authority.
June 11, 2024
Colorado High Court: Privilege Between Physician And Patient ‘Survives’ Death

DENVER — A unanimous Colorado Supreme Court on June 10 discharged a rule to show cause and lifted a stay on a lower court’s in camera review of a decedent’s medical records in a dispute between siblings over the validity of their father’s most recent will, finding that though “the physician-patient privilege survives the privilege holder’s death,” disclosure of the decedent’s medical records is permitted under the testamentary exception if needed for estate administration.
June 11, 2024
Texas Court: AI Surgery Tool Maker Need Not Submit To Presuit Deposition

FORT WORTH, Texas — Even assuming counsel’s arguments during a hearing constitute evidence in a dispute involving an artificial intelligence-assisted surgery tool manufacturer, the company need not produce a corporate representative because the statements fall short of the requirements for a presuit deposition under Texas law, an appeals court in the state said, granting mandamus relief and vacating a ruling to the contrary.
June 11, 2024
Insurer Ordered To Produce Documents Related To Occupational Disease Claims

PITTSBURGH — A Pennsylvania federal judge ordered an insurer to produce claims manuals, guidelines and policies related to the insurer’s evaluation of occupational disease and employer liability claims because the documents, requested by the insured, are relevant to the insurer’s handling of the insured’s claim for coverage for an underlying asbestos bodily injury claim.
June 11, 2024
SEC Hit With FOIA Suit Over Brokers’ Off-Channel Messages Investigations

TAMPA, Fla. — A securities trade association alleges in a complaint filed in Florida federal court that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission violated the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by withholding all responsive documents related to its investigations of broker-dealers that used unauthorized personal devices to communicate with clients during the COVID pandemic, arguing that the commission improperly invoked an FOIA exemption without explanation.
June 11, 2024
X Takes Nondisclosure Order 1st Amendment Fight Over Trump Warrant To High Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Citing constitutional issues that it calls “critically important and recurring,” X Corp. (formerly Twitter Inc.) filed a petition for certiorari in which it asks the U.S. Supreme Court to offer guidance on when a nondisclosure order (NDO) served on an electronic communications service provider along with a warrant seeking private communications violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.