United States of America v. Arbour

Filing 303

RULING denying as moot 157 Motion to Compel Deposition. Signed by Magistrate Judge Stephen C. Riedlinger on 9/18/2015. (LLH)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
CIVIL ACTION
VERSUS
NUMBER 11-803-JJB-SCR
9.345 ACRES OF LAND, MORE OR
LESS, SITUATED IN IBERVILLE
PARISH, STATE OF LOUISIANA,
ET AL
RULING ON MOTION TO COMPEL DEPOSITION
Before the court is the Motion to Compel Deposition of Michael
J. Krainak and to Discover Records and Communications of the United
States

With

Regard

to

Kenneth

L.

Beckham,

International

Gas

Consultants, and Geostock U.S., L.L.C., filed by defendants A.
Wilbert’s Sons, L.L.C., members of the Wilbert Mineral Group, and
the Adams Royalty Group.

Record document number 157.

The motion

is opposed.1
Defendants sought depose Michael J. Krainak, then one of the
counsel for the plaintiff, “solely with respect to Plaintiff’s
Motion for Modification of Amended Scheduling Order and Status
Conference.”2
Kraniak

Specifically,

regarding

the

communications

defendants
he

had

sought

with

the

to

depose

plaintiff’s

retained expert Kenneth Beckman, International Gas Consulting and
Geostock U.S., L.L.C. Those communication, defendants argued, bear

1

Record document number 171. Defendants
memorandum. Record document number 209.
2

Record document number 157, p. 1.

filed

a

reply

directly on what the plaintiff knew about Beckman’s conflict of
interest and when it knew about the conflict.

Plaintiff’s motion

to modify the scheduling order relied on those communications.
That motion was subsequently denied.3

After the ruling on the

motion, Krainak withdrew as counsel for the plaintiff.4

Shortly

thereafter, the plaintiff filed an objection to the denial of its
motion to modify the scheduling order.5
parties’

memoranda,

the

district

judge

After considering the
affirmed

the

denial.6

Because the purpose of taking Krainak’s deposition was to discover
information that would be relevant to the plaintiff’s motion to
modify the scheduling order, and since that motion was denied and
the denial was affirmed by the district judge, there is no longer
a purpose to depose Krainak.
Accordingly, the defendants’ Motion to Compel Deposition of
Michael J. Krainak and to Discover Records and Communications of
the United States With Regard to Kenneth L. Beckham, International
Gas Consultants, and Geostock U.S., L.L.C. is denied as moot.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, September 18, 2015.

STEPHEN C. RIEDLINGER
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
3

Record document number 273.

4

Record document number 285.

5

Record document number 288.

6

Record document number 301.
2