Those of a certain age might recall the Animaniacs. It was an absurdist cartoon with a lot of bits, many referencing the likes of George Burns, Marlon Brando, and other popular public figures from 30 years prior that meant absolutely nothing to 10-year-old me.
One of the bits was "good idea, bad idea," the basic premise of which is right there in the name. I thought it would be fun to revive it for this post on an especially doomed motion before Judge Connolly. Because, while there is much to be learned from the man who climbed Everest, the lesson is often more easily grasped from those unfortunate souls who line the path.
In that vein, I present the lessons that I have gleaned from last Monday's decision in Drake v. General Electric Co., C.A. No. 24-281-CFC (D. Del. Mar. 10, 2025).
Good Idea - Attaching Factual Support for Your Motion
As we've covered in the past, one of the best strategies for a discovery dispute—or any motion—is creating a detailed factual record on, for instance, the actual costs of complying with some request, the difficulty of access some set of documents, or the high cost of vendors. One can find innumerable examples of the Court noting that the losing side of the dispute had presented no more than "attorney argument." At least Judge Burke explicitly encourages the parties to attach affidavits or declarations to their discovery dispute submissions.
Bad Idea - Attaching Your Secretly Recorded Phone Calls
For those curious, there's some ambiguity as to whether Delaware is an all-party consent, or one-party consent state for recording phone calls. Regardless of the actual criminality of such an act I would generally advise not attaching a CD of your secretly recorded phone calls, especially if those calls include a series of veiled threats.
Good Idea - Be Polite, Yet Firm, In Correspondence
It's always good to remember that anything you send to the other side could end up attached to a motion. The Delaware bar is particularly keen on its reputation for civility, and the Court will often chastise the parties for failing to work together in that spirit to find a solution. Accordingly, sending off a series of angry emails is often counter-productive.
Bad Idea - Telling Opposing Counsel You Know Where They Live
I'm just going to go straight to the opinion here:
If anyone should be sanctioned here it is Drake, who has impliedly threatened and tried to intimidate counsel and their clients. Drake, for example, told counsel, "[m]y investigators located your residence," "I am a chosen minister, God will punish you and possibly your family for your unethical and deplorable actions," and "I did a complete background of you and the CEO of GE, which includes family history, education, previous marriages, etc." He also informed counsel that he "located the CEO of GE's residence."
Id. at 2 (internal citations omitted).
As I suggested in the good idea portion above, this strategy was not helpful:
In light of this history and Drake's unacceptable communications with counsel in this case, any abusive or intimidating conduct by Drake in this Court in the future will result in filing restrictions and a substantial fine.
Id. at 3 (internal citations omitted).
It should be noted that these sanctions actually resulted from the Plaintiff's own motion for sanctions against defendant.
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