Iovino v. Michael Stapleton Assocs., Ltd. involves allegations that defendant Michael Stapleton Associates, Ltd. d/b/a MSA Security, Inc. (MSA) violated a federal whistleblower law. The parties have engaged in lengthy and contentious discovery and most recently argued before the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia about plaintiff’s objection to the Magistrate Judge granting MSA’s
federal
Failure to Comply with Discovery Obligations Can Lead to ‘Case-Killing’ Sanctions
Factual Background
Plaintiffs are former employees of Federal Reserve Bank of New York (Federal Reserve) whose employment was terminated when they refused to comply with Defendant’s requirement that its employees be vaccinated against Covid-19. Dkt. No. 24. Plaintiffs alleged that their terminations violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act; the Free Exercise Clause of the First…
Can Discovery Be Compelled from a Party? Possession, Custody, Control Are the Critical Questions
A case out of the District of Minnesota recently addressed whether a party can be compelled to produce text messages from an employee’s personal mobile device when that party has a bring your own device (BYOD) policy in place. See In re Pork Antitrust Litig., 2022 WL 972401 (D. Minn. 2022).
Background
This class…
Spoliation Series: Discovery Abuses Can Lead to Case-Ending Sanctions
In Abbott Laboratories, et al., v Adelphia Supply USA (EDNY May 2, 2019), Plaintiffs filed a motion for case-ending sanctions against defendants H&H Wholesale Services, Inc., Howard Goldman, and Lori Goldman (for purposes of this blog, “Defendants”). The parties submitted briefing and Magistrate Judge Bloom held oral argument. On May 2, 2019, Judge Bloom…