BGC Partners, Inc. et al v. Avison Young (Canada), Inc. et al

Filing 591

ORDER. IT IS ORDERED that Defendants' objection to the Special Master's designation of the 31 at-issue documents as "Responsive" is SUSTAINED. Signed by Magistrate Judge Elayna J. Youchah on 6/30/2022. (Copies have been distributed pursuant to the NEF - JQC)

Case 2:15-cv-00531-RFB-EJY Document 591 Filed 06/30/22 Page 1 of 2

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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DISTRICT OF NEVADA

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***

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NEWMARK GROUP, INC., G&E
ACQUISITION COMPANY, LLC, and BGC
REAL ESTATE OF NEVADA, LLC,

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Case No. 2:15-cv-00531-RFB-EJY

Plaintiffs,
ORDER

v.
AVISON YOUNG (CANADA) INC.;
AVISON YOUNG (USA) INC.; AVISON
YOUNG-NEVADA, LLC, MARK ROSE,
THE NEVADA COMMERCIAL GROUP,
JOHN PINJUV, and JOSEPH KUPIEC; DOES
1 through 5; and ROE BUSINESS ENTITIES
6 through 10,
Defendants.

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Pending before the Court is the Letter to Magistrate Judge … Regarding Responsiveness

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Objections to the Special Master’s Final Report. ECF No. 586. The Court has considered the Letter

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as well as Plaintiff’s Response (ECF No. 590).

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In sum, the Letter argues that 31 documents designated by the Special Master as responsive

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under his appointment are, in fact, nonresponsive. ECF No. 586. Plaintiffs argue that “[d]ocuments

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… the Special Master identified as ‘Responsive’ are relevant to this case.” ECF No. 590 at 3.

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Plaintiffs cite the broad scope of discovery and the “liberal discovery principles of the Federal

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Rules.” Id. at 2-3.

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The scope of discovery for purposes of the Special Master review was defined in the Order
of Appointment. ECF No. 578. Paragraph 5 states:
Judge Hoffman will review the Krugman Documents to determine whether they are
Responsive and whether they are privileged or contain attorney work-product. Judge
Hoffman will make a Responsive or “Nonresponsive” (defined below) determination
for each document. Documents falling within any of the following categories will be
deemed Responsive for purposes of this review: (a) any document sent by, received by
cc’d or bcc’d to Kim Krugman at her Grubb & Ellis email account pertaining to (i)
Grubb & Ellis and/or its personnel (including independent contractors, customers, or
clients) in the State of Nevada or (ii) operations or personnel in the State of Nevada
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Case 2:15-cv-00531-RFB-EJY Document 591 Filed 06/30/22 Page 2 of 2

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even if also applicable to Grubb & Ellis operations elsewhere (such as an employee
handbook or training materials) or (b) any documents about how Grubb & Ellis
documents in Krugman’s Avison Young custodial files were transferred from
Grubb & Ellis to Avison Young. Any documents not identified as Responsive
are deemed “Nonresponsive.”

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Id. The undersigned, who is thoroughly versed in the facts of this dispute, reviewed each page of

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the 31 documents in dispute. None of the documents, nor any portion of any one or more pages of

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any of the documents, falls within the definition of “Responsive” established for the Special Master’s

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review. None of the documents pertain to “Grubb & Ellis and/or its personnel (including independent

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contractors, customers, or clients) in the State of Nevada or … operations or personnel in the State of

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Nevada even if also applicable to Grubb & Ellis operations elsewhere.” None of the documents address

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“how Grubb & Ellis documents in Krugman’s Avison Young custodial files were transferred from Grubb

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& Ellis to Avison Young.” While the Court understands discovery is generally broad, the breadth of

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discovery addressed by Judge Hoffman as a special master was expressly defined.

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Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Defendants’ objection to the Special Master’s

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designation of the 31 at-issue documents as “Responsive” is SUSTAINED. These documents will not

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be produced. Each and all, whether in whole or in part, fail to meet the definition of “Responsive”

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established by the Appointment of the Special Master.

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DATED this 30th day of July, 2022.

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ELAYNA J. YOUCHAH
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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