United States of America et al v. Orlando Heart & Vascular Center, LLC et al

Filing 190

ORDER granting 174 Motion for Leave to Take Additional Fact Witness Depositions; granting in part 176 Motion to Compel Response to Fifth Request for Production to OHVC. The obligation to comply with this Order is STAYED pending further Order of the Court. See Order PDF for additional details. Signed by Magistrate Judge Daniel C. Irick on 7/20/2023. (TNP)

Case 6:19-cv-01884-CEM-DCI Document 190 Filed 07/20/23 Page 1 of 3 PageID 2699

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
ORLANDO DIVISION
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and
JESSICA ELS,
Plaintiffs,
v.

Case No: 6:19-cv-1884-CEM-DCI

ORLANDO HEART & VASCULAR
CENTER, LLC and VINEEL
SOMPALLI,
Defendants.

ORDER
This cause comes before the Court for consideration on two motions: Relator’s Motion for
Leave to Take Additional Fact Witness Depositions (Doc. 174; the Deposition Motion) and
Relator’s Motion to Compel Response to Fifth Request for Production to OHVC (Doc. 176; the
Motion to Compel). The Court held a hearing on these motions on July 20, 2023.
The Deposition Motion is granted. Defendants did not respond to the Deposition Motion,
so the Court takes the Deposition Motion as unopposed. Local Rule 3.01(c). The Court routinely
grants motions that are unopposed. See, e.g., Foster v. The Coca-Cola Co., 2015 WL 3486008, at
*1 (M.D. Fla. June 2, 2015) (“Based upon Plaintiff's failure to respond to Defendant's motion, the
Court proceeds on the basis that Plaintiff does not oppose any of the relief requested by
Defendant.”). Therefore, the Deposition Motion is granted as unopposed.
The Motion to Compel is granted in part. Six months ago, the Court overruled Defendant
Orlando Heart & Vascular Center, LLC’s (OHVC) objections and compelled Defendant OHVC to

Case 6:19-cv-01884-CEM-DCI Document 190 Filed 07/20/23 Page 2 of 3 PageID 2700

produce documents responsive to Relator’s First RFP (Doc. 98-1). Doc. 107. That production
was due on or before February 8, 2023, but that deadline was extended to February 17, 2023.
Docs. 107; 112. Then, when considering a subsequent motion to compel, the Court again
compelled Defendant OHVC to “provide a supplemental, unredacted production in response to
Relator’s RFP” and to “certify whether [its] production is full and complete.” Doc. 157 at 1.
Defendant OHVC was to do so on or before May 14, 2023. Id. Despite these orders, Defendant
OHVC has still not fully responded to Relator’s first RFP (Doc. 98-1). Docs. 176 at 1–2; 177 at
4.
Now, in the Motion to Compel, Relator seeks to inspect and copy Defendant OHVC’s
eMDs database (where the documents that the Court required to be produced in prior Orders are
stored) in order to acquire the full production that they are due.1 Doc. 176 at 5. For the reasons
stated at the hearing, the Court finds Relator’s request well-taken. See also Fed. R. Civ. P.
34(a)(1)(A) (“(a) A party may serve on any other party a request . . . (1) to produce and permit
the requesting party or its representative to inspect [or] copy . . the following items in the
responding party's possession, custody, or control: any . . . electronically stored information—
including . . . other data or data compilations—stored in any medium from which information can
be obtained . . . directly . . . .”) (emphasis added).
Accordingly, it is hereby ORDERED as follows:
1) The Deposition Motion (Doc. 174) is GRANTED, such that each party2 may take up
to thirty depositions;

1

Relator alternatively requests that Defendant OHVC be compelled to produce its entire eMDs
database to Relator.
2

At the hearing, Defendants requested that the parties have the same number of depositions; the
request was unopposed.

-2-

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2) The Motion to Compel (Doc. 176) is GRANTED in part, such that:
a. Defendant OHVC shall turn over a copy of its eMDs database to Relator for
inspection;
b. Relator may copy and retain data from the database that is the subject of this
Court’s prior Orders compelling discovery (Docs. 107; 157);
c. Relator shall provide Defendant OHVC with a copy of any data it has copied
and retained from the eMDs database;
d. Relator shall then return the copy of the eMDs database to Defendant OHVC;
e. The Motion to Compel (Doc. 176) is DENIED in all other respects; and
3) The obligation to comply with this Order is STAYED pending further Order of the
Court.
ORDERED in Orlando, Florida on July 20, 2023.

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