Mealey's Discovery : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Discovery

February 02, 2024
University Must Provide Past Incident Info To Student Claiming Sexual Assault

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Police reports, communications and other information about previously reported incidents of off-campus sexual assaults and harassment are relevant to a university student’s claims of sexual discrimination over the school’s response to her claimed assault, a West Virginia federal magistrate judge found, ordering Marshall University to supplement its discovery responses.
February 02, 2024
Judgment Granted For Insurer In Row Over Misrepresentation Of Harassment Suit

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California federal judge granted summary judgment to an employment practices liability insurer in a declaratory judgment suit against its insured, finding that the insurer is entitled to rescind the policies because it would not have issued the policies had it known of the insured’s false affirmation in the policy application that no harassment suits were made against it in the last five years.
February 01, 2024
Accounting Denied As To Disputed $185 Million Attorney Fees In Insurers’ ACA Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge denied in part objecting class members’ motion for an accounting of a vacated $185 million attorney fee award in suits filed by insurers, some of which are insolvent, over risk-corridor payments under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), finding that because the court has not yet considered a renewed fee request, the accounting is unnecessary at this time.
January 31, 2024
Sanctions Sought In Asbestos Appeal Over Sanctions In Referral Case

RICHMOND, Va. — An appeal before the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals over the appropriateness of sanctions in a case involving asbestos bankruptcy trust referral fees spawned its own briefing on sanctions, with the appellee calling the appeal frivolous and the appellant saying meritorious issues of first impression exist over whether a federal judge can sanction a party for conduct in a state court.
January 31, 2024
California Judge Denies Genetic Testing Motion With Trial Approaching

LOS ANGELES — A defendant seeking a medical examination and genetic testing from a plaintiff suffering from mesothelioma does not explain how such testing can be performed or how expert reports can be produced in the short period remaining prior to trial, a California judge said in denying the defendant’s motion among other rulings.
January 31, 2024
Fabricated ChatGPT Cite Leads To 2nd Circuit Grievance Board Referral

NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 30 referred an attorney to its grievance board for “conduct that falls below the basic obligations of counsel” after she submitted a citation fabricated by artificial intelligence ChatGPT, saying federal rules require that at the very least, attorneys verify the case law they submit in support of their argument.
January 31, 2024
Judge: Offer Of Samples For Testing Largely Moots Protective Order Motion

SEATTLE — Plaintiffs’ ongoing offer to produce talc samples tested by asbestos expert William Longo moots the need for a protective order unless additional samples are found, a judge in Washington state said in denying a motion for protective order and spoliation finding in part.
January 30, 2024
CARD Doctor Says Asbestos Subpoena Likely Seeks ‘Highly Improper’ Testimony

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — The former medical director of a Libby, Mont., clinic told a federal judge in a motion to quash a subpoena that because he never saw a woman when she went to the clinic and her diagnosis at the time differs from the mesothelioma from which she now suffers, any testimony he could offer at trial would be duplicative of evidence a railway already has.
January 30, 2024
Judge Overrules Discovery Objections In FCA Suit, Says Scope Should Be Nationwide

SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge affirmed a magistrate judge’s discovery order and overruled Abbott Laboratories’ objections to the geographical scope of discovery in a suit alleging violations of the False Claims Act (FCA) and state false claims laws regarding an alleged kickback scheme to induce hospitals and physicians to use an Abbott cardiac medical device, finding that the complaint sufficiently alleges a “nationwide scheme.”
January 26, 2024
Insurer Failed To Show Homebuilder’s Discovery Requests Are Not Relevant

AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas federal magistrate judge denied a general liability insurer’s motion for a protective order and to quash subpoenas served on three insurance brokers after determining that the insurer does not have standing to challenge the subpoenas served on the insurance brokers and failed to meet its burden of showing that the information sought by the insured homebuilder is not relevant to the construction defects coverage dispute.
January 26, 2024
Flint Plaintiffs Seek Order Compelling Production Of Documents Improperly Withheld

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Plaintiffs in the Flint water crisis litigation have moved in Michigan federal court to compel engineering firms that were involved in the decision to switch the city’s water supply to the Flint River, which resulted in the drinking water being contaminated with lead, to comply with court orders to produce documents that the presiding judge has determined were withheld under improper assertions of privilege.
January 26, 2024
Magistrate: Parties In FCA Suit Must Respond To Intervention By Specific Date

INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana federal magistrate judge ordered parties to respond by Feb. 5 to the state’s motion to intervene in a suit filed by a health care network’s former employee, who alleges that his termination was in retaliation for his expressing concerns over the network’s purported False Claims Act (FCA) violations by illegally inducing physicians to refer patients to the network’s hospitals.
January 25, 2024
Request For Discovery Order Is ‘Poorly Advised,’ Hair Relaxer Plaintiffs Say

CHICAGO — Plaintiffs in a suit against cosmetic companies over alleged injuries related to hair relaxer products filed a brief in Illinois federal court on Jan. 24 contending that the defendants’ request for a court order establishing procedures for dealing with discovery disputes is “poorly advised and should be rejected in its entirety.”
January 23, 2024
Magistrate Extends Discovery Deadline In Rehabilitator’s Suit Against D&O Insurers

INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana federal magistrate judge granted parties’ joint motion to extend a discovery deadline in a breach of contract suit filed by the Pennsylvania insurance commissioner, as rehabilitator of an insurer, against primary and excess directors and officers (D&O) insurers.
January 23, 2024
WhatsApp, NSO Defend Discovery Requests In Spyware Dispute

OAKLAND, Calif. — WhatsApp Inc. asks a California federal court to order defendant NSO Group Technologies Limited to submit documents related to all the different types of spyware that the Israeli company used to spy on its users in a reply brief supporting its motion to compel discovery responses, while the defendant maintains that it is entitled to information about the company that aided the plaintiff in its investigation related to the claimed surveillance of WhatsApp users.
January 23, 2024
Insured Entitled To Depose Claims Handlers In Environmental Coverage Dispute

DETROIT — An insured seeking coverage for underlying environmental contamination suits is entitled to depose an insurer’s claims handlers because the information sought by the insured is relevant to the insured’s coverage claim and is relevant in determining whether the insurer acted in bad faith in handling the claim, a special master appointed by a Michigan federal court said in granting the insured’s motion to compel deposition testimony.
January 23, 2024
Magistrate Judge Won’t Sanction Talc Defendant Over ‘Litigation Tactics’

NEW YORK — A dispute over an asbestos-talc defendant’s attempts to discover the identities of individuals in expert Jacqueline Moline’s study comes down to disagreement about litigation tactics and does not rise to the level required for sanctions, a magistrate judge in New York said Jan. 22 in denying a motion.
January 18, 2024
Man Says Asbestos-Talc Case Doesn’t Require Inquiry Into His Company

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — No grounds exist for subpoenaing a man’s business records in a case alleging exposure to asbestos in talc where there is no allegation or evidence of workplace exposures and where other courts previously rejected a similar request by another defendant, the man tells a Connecticut judge in a reply seeking a protective order and quashing of the subpoena.
January 18, 2024
Montana Asbestos Plaintiffs: Railroad’s Late Subpoena Of CARD Doctor Is Personal

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Post-discovery attempts at deposing the retired medical director of a facility where a plaintiff last sought care five years ago and which has no connection to current mesothelioma diagnoses or treatments appear to be personal rather than legitimate efforts at producing evidence, two plaintiffs tell a federal judge in Montana in a Jan. 17 motion to quash a railroad’s subpoena.
January 17, 2024
Government Says Release Of Camp Lejeune Water Report Would Be Premature

RALEIGH, N.C. — The U.S. government on Jan. 16 filed a brief in North Carolina federal court arguing that a magistrate judge properly denied the plaintiffs’ motion to compel the government to produce documents related to a federal agency’s draft study examining human health effects associated with exposure to the drinking water at the U.S. Marine Corps Base at Camp Lejeune. The government says the need to avoid damage from the premature release of the report outweighs the plaintiffs’ need.
January 17, 2024
Oregon Granted Extension For Rehearing Petition In Prisoner Vaccine Case

SEATTLE — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a Jan. 16 docket entry granted a motion by Oregon for an extension of time to file a petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc; the motion was filed after a panel denied the state’s petition for a writ of mandamus seeking to quash a trial court’s order compelling the deposition of the former governor in a class lawsuit by prisoners suing over the distribution of COVID-19 vaccinations and deaths due to the virus.
January 12, 2024
Hospital Personnel Must Produce Some Documents In Surveillance Lawsuit

SAN DIEGO — A couple who successfully defended themselves against a hospital’s reports of child abuse and neglect are entitled to records of their daughter’s treatment and communications related to the purportedly invasive surveillance of the family undertaken by the hospital, a California federal magistrate judge found, partly granting the plaintiffs’ motion to compel additional responses from two of the hospital’s personnel who were involved in the surveillance.
January 12, 2024
Judge Grants Ex Parte Bid For Discovery On Reinsurers’ Identity In Breach Case

NEW ORLEANS — Companies that own and operate an offshore supply vessel have won approval of an ex parte motion in Louisiana federal court for leave to conduct expedited discovery regarding the identity of reinsurers in a breach of contract and bad faith suit.
January 10, 2024
Judge Affirms Partial Sanctions Denial In Bitcoin Ownership Suit

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Overruling a bitcoin mining firm’s objections to a magistrate judge’s partial denial of a motion to impose post-trial discovery sanctions on the defendant in a cryptocurrency ownership dispute, a Florida federal judge deemed the magistrate’s ruling “to be well-reasoned and correct” related to required disclosures and compliance with court deadlines in completing a judgment debtor fact form.
January 09, 2024
Panel Affirms $7,000 Costs Award To Manufacturer For Depositions That Didn’t Happen

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A California appellate court panel on Jan. 8 affirmed a trial court’s post-dismissal award to a mattress manufacturer of more than $7,000 in costs incurred seeking depositions from doctors to defend against claims that it sold a sagging mattress that worsened a consumer’s injuries, even though some depositions never occurred and the costs included service to a dead doctor.