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Mealey's Discovery

  • June 30, 2025

    Supreme Court Won’t Hear Dispute Over 4th Amendment Search Of Financial Records

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In its June 30 order list, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari to a bitcoin user on his question over whether the Internal Revenue Service violated the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution with the warrantless seizure of users’ financial records from a digital currency exchange.

  • June 30, 2025

    D.C. Circuit Upholds Default Judgment As Discovery Sanction In Shipping Act Suit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found that the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) properly entered default judgment against a shipping company that refused to comply with its discovery orders in a lawsuit brought against it by a client under the Shipping Act of 1984 (SA).

  • June 27, 2025

    2nd Circuit Affirms Discovery For Use In U.K. Fraud Suit Over $3.7 Billion Estate

    NEW YORK — A New York federal court properly granted the wife and daughter of a wealthy, deceased businessman to serve a discovery subpoena on a financial organization for use in a fraud lawsuit in the United Kingdom, a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, finding that the subpoena complied with the guidelines of U.S. Code Title 28 Section 1782 for discovery to be used in a foreign proceeding or tribunal.

  • June 27, 2025

    Parties Dismiss 1 Insurer In N.C. Coverage Suit Arising From Opioid Epidemic

    WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Insureds and one insurer filed a joint stipulation asking a North Carolina court to dismiss the claims and counterclaims between them in a coverage dispute arising from the opioid epidemic.

  • June 27, 2025

    6th Circuit Remands Chili’s Manager’s ADEA Claim, Says Employer Report Inadmissible

    CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that a fired Chili’s general manager’s “own recollection” of the details of his termination, which differs from those outlined in a now-inadmissible report, and the fact that he was replaced by a much younger employee serve as evidence for an age discrimination claim in reversing and remanding a Tennessee federal court’s order that granted summary judgment to his employer.

  • June 26, 2025

    Nebraska High Court Affirms Default Judgment, Attorney Fee Sanctions In Fraud Row

    LINCOLN, Neb. — Noting a trial court’s finding that a group of parties accused of fraud engaged in “repeated discovery violations” and “inexcusable recalcitrance,” the Nebraska Supreme Court upheld an award of more than $2 million in default judgment for the plaintiff-appellees, as well as an attorney fees award exceeding $180,000.

  • June 23, 2025

    High Court Won’t Review Discovery Ruling In ERISA Health Benefit Denial Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court in its June 23 order list denied a petition to review an Employee Retirement Income Security Act discovery ruling in favor of a multiemployer health plan; the petitioner had argued that the “decision exacerbates both the ongoing split between Circuits as to determining what a plan administrator must do in order to satisfy its fiduciary obligation to perform a full and fair review, as well as the inconsistent factors that courts employ in order to determine whether discovery should be permitted,” and the plan countered that the decision shows only “the routine exercise of judicial discretion in applying the same rule to differing facts.”

  • June 23, 2025

    After Claims Of Info Sharing For Class Actions, OIG To Look At DOL Practices

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Plans have been revealed for an Office of Inspector General (OIG) audit of “how the U.S. Department of Labor [DOL] has shared investigative information with non-governmental entities involved in class action litigation and the extent of any related controls.”

  • June 18, 2025

    Meta Must Provide Privacy Plaintiffs With Analyses Of Users’ Time On Facebook

    SAN FRANCISCO — A putative class of Facebook users who sued Meta Platforms Inc. over the purported sharing of their protected health information (PHI) via its pixel tool are entitled to certain analyses and reports correlating users’ time spent on the social network with Meta’s revenue, a California federal magistrate judge ruled, finding the requested info relevant to the plaintiffs’ proposed damages theory.

  • June 18, 2025

    Plaintiff Cites N.Y. Federal Ruling In Discovery Row Involving Reinsurance Info

    STATESVILLE, N.C. — The plaintiff in a bad faith suit over an excess liability insurer’s alleged duty to indemnify has filed a notice of supplemental authority in which it directs the attention of a North Carolina federal court to a New York federal court ruling that it says “held that reserve and reinsurance information is discoverable in an insurance coverage action.”

  • June 17, 2025

    2nd Circuit Affirms Quash Of Brazilian Oil Firm’s Discovery Subpoena On JPMorgan

    NEW YORK — A Brazilian oil company that sought discovery of documents from JPMorgan Chase & Co. for use in foreign proceedings did not establish that the financial firm had control over the items sought, a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found, affirming a lower court’s decision to quash a discovery subpoena served on the firm.

  • June 16, 2025

    Supreme Court Will Consider Pregnancy Center’s Jurisdictional Question

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 16 granted certiorari to an anti-abortion pregnancy center on its question of whether constitutional challenges to an investigative subpoena demanding the names of donors must first be adjudicated by a state court before they are ripe for federal court review.

  • June 16, 2025

    Slain Inmate’s Mother’s Suit Settlement Mooted Discovery Quest, 6th Circuit Rules

    CINCINNATI — Because the mother of a murdered prison inmate settled her claims against the prison and other parties, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found that the voluntary dismissal of her lawsuit mooted an unresolved discovery matter in the trial court, leading the panel to dismiss her appeal.

  • June 13, 2025

    Magistrate Partly Grants Insured’s Motion To Compel In Coronavirus Coverage Suit

    NEW YORK — A federal magistrate judge in New York 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 its “all risk” insurers to produce certain documents they have withheld as privileged in a coronavirus coverage dispute, directing the insurers to produce communications with their reinsurers and produce documents containing reserve information unless there is another viable ground for withholding.

  • June 11, 2025

    Ferrosilicon Producer Seeks Reconsideration On Discovery Limits In Cleanup Row

    PADUCAH, Ky. — A ferrosilicon producer seeks reconsideration of a Kentucky federal magistrate judge’s ruling limiting the scope of the producer’s issued deposition topics, claiming that the court erred in failing to acknowledge a reinsurer as a proper party in the litigation and misinterpreted its role in a reinsurance contract in a dispute over pollution-related cleanup costs.

  • June 09, 2025

    Ohio Appeals Court Partly Grants Inmate Mandamus In Records Request Dispute

    CLEVELAND — An Ohio appeals court panel granted in part an incarcerated man’s petition for a writ of mandamus related to his request for seven categories of documents from an educational facility within the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) finding that three categories of documents that were withheld from production were not exempt from disclosure.

  • June 09, 2025

    3rd Circuit: Generic Drug Maker Lacked Standing To Appeal Foreign Discovery Order

    PHILADELPHIA — A Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found that it lacked jurisdiction over a discovery dispute in a New Jersey federal court that ultimately stems from an ongoing patent dispute in South Korea, holding that a discovery order under the federal statute that governs U.S. discovery for foreign proceedings was not an appealable final decision.

  • June 09, 2025

    Insurer’s Motion To Compel Granted In Row Over Coverage For Underlying FCA Suit

    BUFFALO, N.Y. —  A New York federal magistrate judge granted an insurer’s motion to compel discovery in a dispute over whether its insureds are entitled to coverage in an underlying qui tam suit alleging violations of the federal False Claims Act (FCA) regarding Medicare fraud, finding in part that the policyholders’ argument that the motion is barred by delay lacks “merit.”

  • June 09, 2025

    Supreme Court Grants Petition In DOGE Discovery Order Case; Narrowing Ordered

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A U.S. Supreme Court majority on June 6 treated a stay application as a petition for a writ of certiorari and granted it in an appeal challenging two trial court discovery orders in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case regarding U.S. DOGE Service’s (DOGE or USDS) authority.

  • June 06, 2025

    Motion To Compel Partially Granted In Coverage Dispute With Debris Removal Company

    NEW YORK  — Agreeing with an insured debris removal company and its principal that an insurer’s discovery request covering a 10-year period is “overly broad,” a New York federal judge partially granted the motion to compel discovery in an insurer’s suit seeking to rescind two insurance policies for purported fraudulent misrepresentations in insurance applications, granting discovery limited to one year before the initial policy application and until the end of the last policy renewal period.

  • June 06, 2025

    Judge Extends Discovery, Says Jurisdiction Prevents Employment Record Production

    LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California on June 5 extended the discovery deadline for employment documents held by a third party in an asbestos action but said jurisdictional issues likely prevent him from ordering their production as requested in an ex parte motion and envisioned by a magistrate judge’s order.

  • June 05, 2025

    Chinese Tech Firm Waives Mandamus Response In High Court Patent Discovery Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Chinese-owned flash memory chip company opted against responding to a petition for mandamus in which an American chip maker seeks relief from a discovery order requiring it to turn over sensitive documents to its Chinese rival, filing a notice of waiver with the U.S. Supreme Court on June 4.

  • June 04, 2025

    Judge Orders Fracking Company To Comply With Discovery Request In Royalty Dispute

    CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — A West Virginia federal magistrate judge on June 3 granted a plaintiff’s motion to compel discovery in a royalty payment dispute with a hydraulic fracturing company, ruling that the information the plaintiff seeks, namely, documents and communications concerning the payment and distribution of royalties, is relevant to the case.

  • June 04, 2025

    6th Circuit Denies PBMs’ Mandamus Petition For Discovery Order In Opioid MDL

    CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 3 denied a petition for a writ of mandamus filed by a group of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) in the nationwide opioid multidistrict litigation, rejecting arguments that the trial court’s discovery orders are “the kind of extraordinary abuses of discretion that justify mandamus relief.”

  • June 04, 2025

    7th Circuit Affirms Dismissal For Lack Of Prosecution, Despite Horse Trampling

    CHICAGO — A trial court did not abuse its discretion in dismissing a breach of contract suit for failure to prosecute based on a plaintiff's discovery failures and missed deadlines, a Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, also finding that an unsupported claim of being trampled by a horse did not suffice to support the plaintiff’s subsequent motion for relief from judgment.