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Mealey's Discovery

March 26, 2025
Seal Motions Granted In Computer Fraud Row Between Spyware Firm And WhatsApp

OAKLAND, Calif. — A California federal judge granted in part and denied in part motions to seal in WhatsApp’s suit against a spyware firm related to the firm’s alleged computer fraud, granting WhatsApp’s motion as to some requests because the “redactions are sufficiently narrow” and granting some of the spyware firm’s requests to seal regarding “limited redactions.”
March 25, 2025
Copyright Plaintiffs: Microsoft Has Relevant Evidence In OpenAI Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — A magistrate judge imposed the wrong standard in concluding that Microsoft Corp. has to produce records related to OpenAI entities’ alleged copyright infringement because Microsoft’s $13 billion investment in the entities and their close relationship with the tech giant means Microsoft almost certainly possesses evidence relevant to the case, plaintiffs told a federal judge in California in seeking relief from the ruling.
March 25, 2025
Shipyard’s Employment Record Production Moots Motion To Compel

NEW ORLEANS — A federal magistrate judge in Louisiana denied as moot a motion to withdraw a motion to compel production after a shipyard – through what it termed “great effort” – secured authorized release of employment records in a take-home asbestos case.
March 25, 2025
11th Circuit Affirms Denial Of Discovery Subpoena In Long-Running RICO Suit

ATLANTA — Considering four consolidated appeals by a Florida woman accused of being involved in her ex-husband’s money-laundering scheme, an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found that a trial court properly denied her petition for a subpoena to obtain certain confidential documents that she filed in a Florida racketeering lawsuit for use in a criminal suit in Liechtenstein as “an attempted end-run around . . . prior rulings.”
March 21, 2025
Expedited Discovery Order Reaffirmed In Union’s Suit Over DOGE Access To DOL

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Washington, D.C., denied reconsideration of a limited expedited discovery order in a lawsuit by labor unions and nonprofits challenging access to U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) records by personnel from U.S. Digital Service and the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization (together, DOGE) and granted an amended motion for expedited discovery filed by the plaintiffs, opining that new evidence that the DOGE personnel are now also employed by the DOL “presents further reason that [DOGE’s] reporting structure needs clarifying.”
March 20, 2025
Claim For Forfeited Cash Properly Struck For Discovery Failures, 9th Circuit Says

SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel majority affirmed a trial court’s decision to strike a man’s claim opposing forfeiture of more than $1 million, which was seized by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), in light of his refusal to comply with repeated orders to provide additional responses to discovery interrogatories to establish his standing.
March 20, 2025
Insureds’ Failure To Provide Proof Of Loss Forms Relieves Insurer Of Coverage Duty

NEW YORK — A property insurer does not owe coverage to its insureds for a missing boat dock because the insureds’ failure to provide requested proof of loss forms within 60 days of receiving the request from the insurer constitutes a violation of the insurance policy’s terms and relieves the insurer of its duty to pay the insureds’ claim, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said March 19 in affirming a district court’s ruling on the insureds’ breach of contract and bad faith claims.
March 20, 2025
Discovery Violations Lead To Default, $16.2M Verdict In Washington Asbestos Case

TACOMA, Wash. — A Washington judge hit Canadian mining outfit Asbestos Corp. Ltd. (ACL) with a $16.2 million verdict after entering default judgment against the company for failure to comply with discovery rulings.
March 19, 2025
Magistrate Denies Motion To Compel Production Of Source Code In Patent Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A California federal magistrate judge denied in part a motion to compel discovery in a digital rights patent infringement suit, denying the motion to compel production of ground server source code and finding that the patent holder’s “one-sentence argument” “as to relevance does not satisfy its burden.”
March 19, 2025
Canadian Asbestos Miner Seeks Judge’s Removal After $1,000 Discovery Sanction

LOS ANGELES — Asbestos Corp. Ltd. (ACL) filed a brief in a California court arguing that its peremptory challenge to the judge overseeing an asbestos case was timely after informing the court that it could not receive a fair hearing from the judge, who previously found that it “willfully and intentionally” failed to comply with court-ordered discovery.
March 18, 2025
Company Urges Review Of Genetic Testing Ruling In California Asbestos Case

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A trial court evaluated a motion to compel simple and potentially conclusive genetic testing in a mesothelioma case under the standard for admissibility when it should have done so under the standard for relevance, a company told the California Supreme Court in a petition for review.
March 13, 2025
Judge Allows States Discovery Into DOGE’s, Musk’s Authority In Firings, Data Access

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Fourteen states that sued over purported violations of the appointments clause of the U.S. Constitution were given the opportunity to take expedited discovery on actions taken by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), its personnel and Elon Musk, with a District of Columbia federal judge on March 12 finding that their discovery requests were, largely, narrowly tailored and pertinent to their forthcoming preliminary injunction motion.
March 13, 2025
DOL, DOGE, Others Ask Court To Rethink Expedited Discovery In Unions’ APA Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Department of Labor (DOL), the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and other parties accused of improperly providing access to citizens’ confidential information to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) filed a motion asking a District of Columbia federal judge to reconsider his recent grant of expedited discovery to the plaintiff labor unions and nonprofits, asserting that changes to the “factual predicates” have “obviate[d] the need” for such discovery.
March 12, 2025
Federal Circuit Affirms Invalidity Of Wearable Tech Patents, Moots ITC Proceedings

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel rejected a wearable technology patent holder’s argument that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) violated its discovery obligations before holding that all challenged claims in the company’s patents were invalid during inter partes review (IPR) proceedings brought by Apple Inc., affirming the invalidity finding.
March 11, 2025
Expedited Discovery, Dismissal Sought In States’ Suit To Halt DOGE’s Actions

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Elon Musk, President Donald J. Trump and the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) moved in District of Columbia federal court to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a group of 14 states opposing Musk’s involvement in DOGE’s activities, asserting that because Musk is an adviser, not an officer of the United States, the plaintiffs’ claim under the appointments clause of the U.S. Constitution is doomed.
March 11, 2025
Vermont High Court Affirms Quash Of Insurer Subpoena In J&J Talc Coverage Suit

MONTPELIER, Vt. — An insurer trying to escape liability for a verdict against Johnson & Johnson (J&J) in an asbestos-talc bodily injury mass tort litigation improperly served an out-of-state subpoena on a regulatory department for information filed by the company’s captive insurance company without first establishing that the information it sought was not available from other nonconfidential sources, the Vermont Supreme Court found, upholding a trial court's decision to quash the subpoena.
March 10, 2025
California Court Won’t Review Ruling Limiting Genetic Testing In Asbestos Case

OAKLAND, Calif. — A California appellate court on March 7 denied a writ petition challenging a trial court’s ruling limiting genetic testing, which the petitioner claimed “undermines the search for truth” by improperly restricting discovery to only potentially admissible evidence and by eliminating the possibility that the testing could produce dispositive evidence of causation, according to a docket entry.
March 10, 2025
Tornado Cash Developer Denied Certiorari Over Expert Witness Disclosure Procedures

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two questions over expert witness disclosures that were raised by a cryptocurrency software protocol developer will go unaddressed by the U.S. Supreme Court, which denied Roman Storm’s petition for certiorari in its March 10 order list.
March 10, 2025
Company Defends Claim As Parties Set Discovery Rules In Asbestos Expert Dispute

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A Johnson & Johnson subsidiary opposed reconsideration of a ruling allowing a single claim to proceed against three experts it accuses in a lawsuit of disparagement and false advertising based on their article linking mesothelioma to exposure to talc, while the parties asked a federal judge in Virginia to permit bifurcated discovery, with the first phase involving fact questions and the second involving damages, which the subsidiary also opposed.
March 10, 2025
Asbestos Defendant Denied Robust Genetic Testing Seeks Appellate Review

OAKLAND, Calif. — A state trial court ruling limiting genetic testing “undermines the search for truth” by improperly restricting discovery to only potentially admissible evidence and by eliminating the possibility that the testing could produce dispositive evidence of causation, a company defending a California asbestos action tells an appellate court in a petition for writ of mandate.
March 07, 2025
5th Circuit Affirms Refusal To Impose Statutory ERISA Penalty In Plan Documents Row

NEW ORLEANS — In an unpublished March 6 per curiam opinion saying in part that the appellant didn’t “establish that the district court abused its discretion in” determinations made following a bench trial, a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed discovery and other rulings for the sponsor and administrator of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act medical benefits plan in a documents dispute.
March 05, 2025
J&J Subsidiary, Experts Move For Bifurcated Discovery In Asbestos Study Suit

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A Johnson & Johnson subsidiary and three experts it accuses of disparagement and false advertising based on an article they published linking mesothelioma to exposure to talc asked a federal judge in Virginia to bifurcate discovery, with the first phase involving fact questions and the second involving damages.
March 05, 2025
11th Circuit Affirms Summary Judgment, Discovery Rulings Against STD Claimant

ATLANTA — Upholding discovery and summary judgment rulings for a disability insurer in a March 4 unpublished per curiam opinion, an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel rejected the claimant’s arguments that the lower court “did not properly apply [the appellate court’s] framework for evaluating” claims asserted under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and should not have denied her request for “discovery outside the administrative record.”
March 03, 2025
Mass. High Court Upholds Procedural Rulings In Rape, Murder Case, Denies New Trial

BOSTON — Nine years after a jury convicted Philip Chism for the rape and murder of his teacher, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court denied his quest for a reduced sentence and a new trial, upholding most of a trial court’s discovery and expert witness rulings and finding that any errors that occurred were not prejudicial to Chism.
February 28, 2025
Judge Won’t Let AI Copyright Plaintiffs Set Search Terms

SAN FRANCISCO — Plaintiffs’ efforts at relitigating issues they lost undermines rulings designed to prevent delays, and the parties appear to be “taking turns to simply conjure up something about which to fight,” a judge overseeing consolidated federal copyright litigation in California involving artificial intelligence said Feb. 27 in denying requested discovery.