In the Matter of: Antill Pipeline Construction Company, Inc.

Filing 248

ORDER denying 237 Motion to Quash; denying 237 Motion for Protective Order. Signed by Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Wilkinson, Jr. (Reference: 09-3646, 10-2633)(car, )

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA
IN RE: ANTILL PIPELINE CONSTRUCTION
COMPANY, INC., ETC.

CIVIL ACTION
NO. 09-3646 c/w NO. 10-2633
SECTION “C”(2)

ORDER ON MOTION
APPEARANCES: None (on the briefs)
MOTION:

Motion of Petitioner-in-Limitation, Antill Pipeline Construction Co.,
Inc., to Quash and for Protective Order, Record Doc. No. 237

O R D E R E D:
XXX : DENIED, subject to the condition contained herein. The subject deposition notice
does not seek the kind of extraneous information that the Diamond State and Medmarc
decisions cited by movant excluded from discovery. Instead, it seeks the same kind of
information that is so relevant and useful to litigation of this sort that it has been made the
subject of the mandatory disclosure requirements in Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(1)(A)(iv). Like the
required disclosure information, the deposition notice seeks “basic information that is needed
in most cases to prepare for trial or make an informed decision about settlement.” Official
Advisory Committee Notes to 1993 Amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure,
Federal Civil Judicial Procedure and Rules at 160 (West Pamph. 2011ed.) Indeed, I have
found during the course of countless settlement conferences conducted in similar cases over
the past 16 years that exactly the kind of information sought through this deposition has
already been voluntarily disclosed by the insured party. In a more accommodating litigation
world, where the spirit of Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(a)(1) might be more closely honored than its
mere technical requirements, this information would already have been provided by Antill,
pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(e)(1), as the court whose decisions are cited by claimants
required. Since Antill or its counsel either cannot or will not do so, this discovery will be
permitted, and the deposition must proceed as noticed, unless formal disclosure of the
requested information by Antill pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(e)(1) occurs no later than two
(2) days before that date.
15th
New Orleans, Louisiana, this
day of June, 2011.

JOSEPH C. WILKINSON, JR.
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE