Interstate Restoration Group, Inc. v. Al Copeland Investments, Inc. et al

Filing 126

ORDERED that 84 MOTION for APPEAL OF MAGISTRATE JUDGE DECISION to District Court re 84 Motion to Compel is OVERRULED. Signed by Judge Stanwood R. Duval, Jr on 8/20/09. (blg)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA INTERSTATE RESTORATION GROUP, INC. VERSUS AL COPELAND INVESTMENTS, INC. CIVIL ACTION NO. 07-970 SECTION "K"(2)

ORDER Before the Court is Defendants' Objection to the Magistrate Judge's Order Granting Plaintiffs' Motion to Compel (Rec. Doc. 84). The present matter concerns a claim by the Plaintiff to recover amounts that was allegedly owed by Defendants due to post-Hurricane Katrina remediation work. Plaintiff sued various related companies on an alter ego theory. Defendants sought bifurcation of the alter ego issue from liability. That motion was denied by this Court on June 25, 2009 (Rec. Doc. 108). The present motion is an appeal from a decision by Magistrate Judge Daniel E. Knowles, III, granting Plaintiffs the permission to seek discovery regarding this alter ego issue. Defendants aver that the alter ego issues are irrelevant to the case, and they also perfunctorily assert that the discovery requests are overbroad. This Court has jurisdiction to review a magistrate judge's decision regarding pretrial discovery matters, reversing them only if it is "clearly erroneous or contrary to law." 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(A). As to the first ground of objection, Defendants cannot assert that issues of alter ego are irrelevant to this trial because this Court has already decided that the alter ego issue shall not be bifurcated; therefore, discovery regarding corporate structures, transactions, and the like are relevant. Second, Defendants cannot seek to overturn a magistrate judge's discovery ruling simply by asserting that the requests are overbroad without further factual support. Accordingly,

IT IS ORDERED that the Defendants' Objection to the Magistrate Judge's Order Granting Plaintiffs' Motion to Compel (Rec. Doc. 84) is OVERRULED.

20th New Orleans, Louisiana, this _______ day of August, 2009.

STANWOOD R. DUVAL, JR. UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE