A Blog About Intellectual Property Litigation and the District of Delaware


Entries for tag: Deposition

Court Orders Deposition Reopened After Deponent Consulted with Counsel Between Questions

Andrew E. Russell, Nov. 29, 2023
Depositions Privilege

Notes
The Climate Reality Project, Unsplash

We've written before about the risks of a deponent consulting with counsel during a deposition. This week, visiting Judge Wolson ordered a deposition reopened after counsel did just that:

AND NOW, this 27th day of November, 2023, upon consideration of Stragent’s Motion For Sanctions Against VCUSA Pursuant To Fed. R. Civ. P. Rule 30(d)(2) For VCUSA’s Violation Of Local Rule 30.6 And Established Law (D.I. 100), and for the reasons set forth on the record during a hearing with the Parties, it is ORDERED that the Motion is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART as follows:
1. The Motion is GRANTED, to the extent Stragent seeks to reopen the deposition of [the deponent] …
View

Judge Wolson Rejects Attempt to Limit Deposition Discovery & Force Remote Depositions in ANDA Action

Andrew E. Russell, Sept. 10, 2023
Depositions Deposition Location

An attorney's view after many a deposition—if you're lucky enough to catch a flight back that night.
An attorney's view after many a deposition—if you're lucky enough to catch a flight back that night. Eva Darron, Unsplash

This On Friday, Judge Wolson addressed—and rejected—an effort by an ANDA defendant to limit deposition discovery on the basis that discovery is, in its view, just not that important in an ANDA action. As set they put it:

This is an ANDA case. Black letter law holds that the infringement issues in an ANDA case are controlled by the ANDA itself. . . . Months ago, Defendants produced the ANDA and ANDA product samples from which the relevant infringement analysis must be derived. Plaintiff has now noticed the deposition of both Defendants and seven individuals. But the information that …
View

District of Delaware Deposition Tips

Andrew E. Russell, July 14, 2023
Depositions KB

"We need to call the Court!" AI Generated, displayed with permission

The Court has been somewhat quiet this week as far as new decisions, so I figured I'd take this opportunity to lay out a few quick thoughts on recurring issues that come up in depositions in the District of Delaware.

This is some (but not all) of what you might hear when asking Delaware counsel "depositions are coming up next month, is there anything I should know?" (Experienced Delaware counsel might also talk about a few more topics, such as how to avoid accidentally making your witness prep materials discoverable—but those are for another post).

Here's the list:

  • When sending a notice of deposition, be sure to leave at …
View

Court Compels Defendant to Provide Witness on 30(b)(6) Topics Even If "Many (If Not Most, or All)" Questions Likely to Draw Privilege-Related Instructions Not to Answer

Andrew E. Russell, April 29, 2022
MTC Motion to Compel

Illustration of the stone wall plaintiff will face when they actually depose this person.
Illustration of the stone wall plaintiff will face when they actually depose this person. eberhard grossgasteiger, Unsplash

In The United States of America v. Gilead Sciences, Inc., C.A. No. 19-2103-MN (D. Del.), plaintiff moved to compel defendant to produce a 30(b)(6) witness on various topics, including on "[a]ll bases" for certain statements by defendant's CEO, including statements about a decision not to challenge the validity of certain patents.

As to two of those topics, the defendant argued in its responsive letter that the CEO's statements were "based entirely on communications and memoranda prepared by Gilead’s in-house counsel and outside counsel," which are privileged. The Court generally agreed:

[T]he Court definitely acknowledges Defendants' point[, ]i.e., …
View

Can You Show the Jury a 10 Minute Video of the Other Side's Expert Just Saying "I Don't Know"?

Andrew E. Russell, April 26, 2022
Trial Video

Question Marks
Véronique Debord-Lazaro, CC BY-SA 2.0

It's great that we are getting to point of having frequent jury trials again here in Delaware. Trial is the most dynamic and interesting part of the litigation process. It's where you get to address classic questions like "Can we get this admitted into evidence even though it's not on our exhibit list?", "Where was THAT in his expert report?", and "Can we show the jury this video of the other side's expert saying 'I don't know' for ten minutes straight?"

Luckily, on that last question, we now have some precedent. According to Judge Andrews last week:

I agree with First Quality that Dr. Mitton's availability does not make the deposition inadmissible. But I nevertheless …
View

Judge Noreika: Likely Trial Witnesses Get In-Person Depositions In the U.S., Not Remote Depositions

Andrew E. Russell, Feb. 14, 2022
Depositions Deposition

COVID-19
Fusion Medical Animation, Unsplash

Not all attorneys love remote depositions, even if they are much more convenient and practical in many cases (especially for foreign witnesses). The parties in Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Lupin Limited, C.A. No. 21-1293-MN (D. Del.), an ANDA case, brought two disputes before Judge Noreika about remote depositions:

  1. Whether all parties should be required to make all witnesses available live, instead of via remote deposition; and
  2. Whether all parties, including a defendant who brought counterclaims, should be required to bring their witnesses to the United States for deposition without the other parties having to engage in Hague Convention procedures.

Plaintiff sought to force live, in-person depositions of all witnesses in the …

View

Defendant Narrowly Escapes Motion to Exclude After Flippant Remark by Expert at Deposition

Andrew E. Russell, Sept. 6, 2021
Depositions Expert Witness

Judge Burke last month addressed a motion to strike portions of an expert report regarding commercial acceptability of a non-infringing alternative.

As set forth in the report, an expert may rely on experience in the industry, but must explain "how that experience leads to the conclusions reached." Here, the expert opined that an alternative was commercially acceptable, but did not set forth why.

Then, when asked for more detail at his deposition, he responded with a snide comment:

[D]uring his deposition, [the expert] very ill−advisedly made things worse when he responded to a question on this subject by flippantly suggesting that he had "no backing" for the conclusion, and had simply "put [it] in on purpose" because Plaintiffs' expert similarly …
View

Informal Request for Production at Deposition Insufficient to Preserve Rights Absent Later Formal Request

Andrew E. Russell, April 18, 2021
Document Production Deposition

Judge Andrew's In re Chanbond opinion an Friday focused primarily on reopening discovery, but it also addressed a second issue, which I thought merited a separate post.

Shortly before trial, in a reply brief, Defendants sought production of an "Advisory Services Agreement" between the plaintiff and third party IPNav. They had previously informally requested the document at a deposition, and renewed that request as part of their motion to reopen discovery after the document's importance became apparent in light of the standing dispute. Defendants request at the deposition was apparently on the record, and Plaintiff indicated it would look for the document, but Defendants did not follow up with a formal document request:

I agree with Plaintiff that Defendants …
View

Germany: Good Beer, Nice Views, Terrible Depositions

Nathan R. Hoeschen, March 11, 2021
Depositions Deposition

tobias-eggermann-HhIHBmArf0g-unsplash.jpg
Tobias Eggerman, Unsplash

Depositions have been especially hard during the pandemic. Luckily, the quick proliferation of Zoom and its competitors have made it possible to take remote depositions that roughly approximate the experience of angrily objecting across a conference table.

International depositions, however, have remained problematic. In the past, witnesses could simply be shuffled from a country with hugely restrictive deposition procedures to a more friendly jurisdiction -- be it the Netherlands, the UK, a consulate, or even beautiful Delaware.

Travel restrictions and the closing of consular offices have made this a non-starter in many cases and so there has been a bit of a resurgence in proceedings under the Hague as parties struggle to get what discovery they …

View

On The Hazards of Talking to Your Witness During a Deposition in Delaware

Andrew E. Russell, Nov. 9, 2020
Rule 30.6 Rule 30

hiroshi-kimura-rtX4wxMEI2M-unsplash.jpg
Hiroshi Kimura, Unsplash

Since the early 2000's, the District of Delaware local rules have prohibited talking to a witness about the subject matter of their deposition testimony during a deposition:

RULE 30.6. Depositions Upon Oral Examination.
From the commencement until the conclusion of deposition questioning by an opposing party, including any recesses or continuances, counsel for the deponent shall not consult or confer with the deponent regarding the substance of the testimony already given or anticipated to be given, except for the purpose of conferring on whether to assert a privilege against testifying or on how to comply with a court order.

It's not uncommon for visiting counsel defending depositions in Delaware cases to not know this rule. …

View
Older

Archive