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Mealey's Discovery

  • November 01, 2024

    Woman Says Hysterectomy Evidence Relevant In Mesothelioma Case

    LOS ANGELES — Expert testimony establishes that mesothelioma spread to a woman’s ovaries necessitating a hysterectomy regardless of the initial diagnosis, the woman tells a Los Angeles judge in opposing a motion in limine to exclude evidence of the procedure.

  • October 31, 2024

    Boiler Company Says Discovery Triggered Asbestos Case Removal

    SEATTLE — It would have been objectively unreasonable to remove a case alleging asbestos exposure at various locations and to non-Navy products, and it was only subsequent discovery that demonstrated that the case belongs in federal court, a company argues in a supplemental brief opposing remand from a federal court in Washington.

  • October 30, 2024

    OpenAI Opposes Discovery Of Employees’ Personal Social Media Content

    NEW YORK — Authors and writers in artificial intelligence copyright lawsuits filed against OpenAI Inc. asked a federal judge for access to employees’ personal social media accounts, saying the record shows work-related use of the accounts.  But in response, the company says that the request strays far afield from the case’s central issues, that the company has no possession of or control over the requested information and that the plaintiffs are simply employing a scorched earth discovery process.

  • October 30, 2024

    OpenAI Wants Evidence Of New York Times’ AI Damages, AI’s Positive Impact

    NEW YORK — The New York Times Co. must produce evidence of any damages from artificial intelligence, as well as its use of ChatGPT and other third-party AIs, OpenAI entities tell a federal judge in New York in a letter motion seeking to compel production.  Concurrently, the companies wrapped briefing on a motion to consolidate, with the newspaper saying it doesn’t object as long as the move doesn’t delay the case, and the defendants contending that adding a third case would ensure smooth handling of all cases.

  • October 30, 2024

    Reinsurance Broker Wins Discovery Stay In Suit Over Vesttoo Collapse Losses

    DALLAS — Granting a discovery stay in a breach of contract suit over losses associated with the collapse of Vesttoo Ltd. pending resolution of a dismissal bid, a Texas federal judge said that “under the circumstances” the stay “could streamline” resolution of the case and will not prejudice the plaintiff.

  • October 29, 2024

    Quash Motion Denied In RICO Suit Over Fraudulent No-Fault Claims Totaling Millions

    BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A New York federal magistrate judge on Oct. 28 denied a nonparty’s motion to quash a subpoena seeking production of documents related to his bank accounts in a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) suit alleging that the defendant medical providers and physicians participated in a multimillion-dollar fraudulent scheme to bill the plaintiff insurer for medically unnecessary services, finding “that the request is not overly broad but appropriately tailored to information relating to people and entities allegedly involved in the scheme.”

  • October 28, 2024

    MDL Judge Reaffirms Ruling To Hold Off Discovery Into GLP-1 Marketing Plans

    PHILADELPHIA — The Pennsylvania federal judge newly appointed to oversee the multidistrict litigation involving diabetes and diet drugs that consumers allege cause gastrointestinal and other injuries declined to reconsider her case management order that barred the plaintiffs from pursuing discovery into the drug makers’ marketing campaigns.

  • October 28, 2024

    9th Circuit Says It Lacks Jurisdiction To Consider Patent Row Discovery Issue

    SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals dismissed Apple Inc.’s appeal of a California federal judge’s decision to grant an Australian patent holding company’s application for discovery for use in a yet-to-be-filed patent infringement suit in Germany; the panel held that it lacked appellate jurisdiction because the judge’s order was not final.

  • October 28, 2024

    Motion To Quash Denied In $3M STOLI Policy Row Involving Insurer And Intermediary

    CINCINNATI — A federal magistrate judge on Oct. 25 denied a retired life insurance company employee’s motion to quash a subpoena in a special action filed in Ohio federal court related to litigation in a Delaware federal court where a life insurer sued a securities intermediary seeking a declaratory judgment that a policy owned by the securities intermediary is void ab initio as a stranger originated life insurance (STOLI) policy, finding that the insurer and employee failed to show that deposing the employee “would impose an undue burden or is not proportional to the needs of the case.”

  • October 25, 2024

    Car Makers Pull Motion To Compel After Agreeing On Mesothelioma Genetic Testing

    TRENTON, N.J. — Auto makers withdrew their motion to compel genetic testing in a mesothelioma case, telling a New Jersey judge overseeing the litigation that they reached a stipulation under which the plaintiffs agreed to submit to the testing and protocols governing the evidence.

  • October 24, 2024

    DOJ, Google Cite ‘Impasse’ In Report On Discovery In Sherman Act Antitrust Suit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. —  The Department of Justice (DOJ) and officials from numerous states filed a joint status report along with Google LLC in a District of Columbia federal court outlining discovery issues where the DOJ says the parties are at an “impasse” in a suit in which a federal judge overseeing the case previously determined that Google violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act.

  • October 24, 2024

    New Mexico Supreme Court: AG Must Disclose Agency Documents In Talc Suit

    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The attorney general’s office’s broad powers imbue it with the prelitigation duty to review nonparty agency documents before determining whether to bring suit, and logic and notions of fair play require making those same types of documents available to Johnson & Johnson in its defense of talc-related marketing claims, the New Mexico Supreme Court said in what it called a narrow issue of first impression.

  • October 24, 2024

    OpenAI Wants Evidence Of New York Times’ AI Damages, AI’s Positive Impact

    NEW YORK — The New York Times Co. must produce evidence of any damages from artificial intelligence, as well as its usage of ChatGPT and other third-party AIs, OpenAI entities tell a federal judge in New York in a letter motion seeking to compel production.

  • October 24, 2024

    Supreme Court Won’t Stay Discovery Subpoena On S.C. Agency Pending Cert Petition

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. of the United States on Oct. 23 denied an application by the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism (SCDPRT) to stay, pending resolution of its petition for certiorari, a mandate by the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a dispute over waiver and immunity related to a discovery subpoena served on the agency by Google LLC in an antitrust lawsuit.

  • October 22, 2024

    Parties To AI Insurance Estimate Trade Secret Battle Debate Scope Of Discovery

    CHICAGO — A vehicle insurance claims evaluation platform urged a federal judge in Illinois to compel production of discovery from an artificial intelligence company that allegedly used an alias to steal proprietary information and trade secrets.  But in response, the AI company says that having learned nothing untoward from AI training data and other evidence production, the plaintiff is now seeking to expand discovery to time periods untethered to the claims.

  • October 21, 2024

    Magistrate Reduces Data Sample Google Must Produce In Assistant Eavesdropping Row

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal magistrate judge on Oct. 18 resolved a two-year-old discovery dispute in a class action over Google LLC’s purported eavesdropping of users of its Google Assistant (GA) app, reducing the number of user query samples the defendant must provide to the plaintiffs in light of a subsequent ruling certifying only a single class claim for unfair competition.

  • October 21, 2024

    11th Circuit Panel: No Jurisdiction Over Grand Jury Subpoena Appeal

    ATLANTA — An 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel dismissed a consolidated appeal objecting to discovery orders related to grand jury subpoenas, finding that it lacked jurisdiction because the appellant investment firm, which is not a party to the underlying grand jury investigation, did not first stand in contempt of the orders.

  • October 18, 2024

    Woman: Federal Court Discovery Can’t Save Untimely Asbestos Case Removal

    SEATTLE — Supplemental discovery requests filed after a case landed in federal court did not change the allegations in the case or render a defendant’s removal six months after the filing of the complaint timely, a woman tells a federal judge in Washington in responding to a request for supplemental briefing.

  • October 17, 2024

    Panel Issues Split Ruling In Tire Trade Dress Suit On Discovery, Daubert, Privilege

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a long-running trade dress dispute between two tire companies, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel partly affirmed a trial court ruling, deeming the asserted trade dress functional and, therefore, not protectable and upholding discovery sanctions and expert testimony exclusion, while reversing in part by finding that litigation privilege barred the defendant’s counterclaims.

  • October 16, 2024

    Georgia Supreme Court: No Attorney-Client Privilege In Jail Phone Calls

    ATLANTA — A Georgia Supreme Court majority on Oct. 15 ruled that jailhouse phone calls between an arrestee and his counsel did not include legal advice and, therefore, were not protected by the attorney-client privilege.

  • October 16, 2024

    Magistrate Denies AGs’ Bid To Stay Discovery Order In Social Media Addiction MDL

    OAKLAND, Calif. — A California federal magistrate judge on Oct. 15 denied a motion by state attorneys general to stay a discovery order in a product liability multidistrict ligation over the purported addictive qualities for adolescents of several of the largest social media platforms, finding that the attorneys general failed to show a likelihood of success on the merits or irreparable harm absent the stay.

  • October 16, 2024

    South Carolina Agency To High Court: No Immunity Waiver In Discovery Subpoena Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism (SCDPRT) in an Oct. 15 reply brief defends its application with the U.S. Supreme Court to stay a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals mandate of a ruling that the department waived sovereign immunity in a discovery subpoena with Google LLC, arguing that state law and binding precedent establish that the state’s attorney general has no authority to waive its immunity.

  • October 16, 2024

    Magistrate Finds Some Motions To Compel Documents Need Revising In Exactech MDL

    BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A New York federal magistrate judge granted in part and denied in part motions to compel the production of documents filed by plaintiffs in the Exactech orthopedic device multidistrict litigation, finding that while some of the documents are relevant to the proceedings, other requests are overbroad and too burdensome.

  • October 15, 2024

    Talc Retailer Facing Mesothelioma Case Wants Hysterectomy Evidence Excluded

    LOS ANGELES — Any jury considering a mesothelioma case should not hear about a woman’s hysterectomy performed after doctors originally mistook her disease for ovarian cancer, as that information will serve only to inflame and confuse the jury, Walmart Inc. argues in a motion in limine seeking to exclude the evidence.

  • October 15, 2024

    Judge Admits Marine Engineering Expert In Asbestos Sovereign Immunity Case

    NEW ORLEANS — After denying reconsideration and precluding a man from relying on a settled party’s experts, a federal judge in Louisiana turned away challenges to a marine engineering expert, saying the expert’s knowledge about Navy shipbuilding practices and asbestos is likely to be helpful to a jury on the issue of derivative sovereign immunity.