White et al v. West Publishing Corporation et al

Filing 73

DECLARATION of John P. Sullivan in Support re: 46 MOTION for Summary Judgment.. Document filed by West Publishing Corporation. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit A)(Rich, Robert)

EXHIBIT A

Page 1 (Pages 1-4)
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·UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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·SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
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·------------------------------x
·4·
·EDWARD L. WHITE, P.C.,· · · ··: HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL ·5·
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·6· · · · · · · · ·Plaintiff,· ··: OUTSIDE ATTORNEYS'
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·7· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·: EYES ONLY
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·8· · · ·-against-· · · · · · · ·: Civil Action No.
·WEST PUBLISHING CORPORATION· ·: 12-CV-1340 (JSR)
·9·
·d/b/a "West," and· · · · · · ·:
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·REED ELSEVIER INC. d/b/a· · ··:
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·LexisNexis,· · · · · · · · · ·:
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13· · · · · · · · ··Defendants.··:
·------------------------------x
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15· · · · · · · · ··August 28, 2012
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16· · · · · · · · ··10:15 a.m.
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18· · · · ·Deposition of TOM LEIGHTON, held at the law
·offices of Bragar Eagel & Squire, PC, 885 Third
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·Avenue, Suite 3040, New York, New York, before
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·Susan B. Ratner, a Shorthand Reporter and Notary
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·Public within and for the State of New York.
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·A P P E A R A N C E S (Continued):
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·For the Defendant Reed Elsevier Inc.
·d/b/a LexisNexis:
·MORRISON & FOERSTER LLP
· · · ·1290 Avenue of the Americas
· · · ·New York, New York 10104-0050
·BY:· ·CINDY P. ABRAMSON, ESQ.
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·A P P E A R A N C E S:
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·For the Plaintiff:
·GREGORY A. BLUE, P.C.
· · · ·The Chrysler Building
· · · ·405 Lexington Avenue - Suite 2600
· · · ·New York, New York 10174
·BY:· ·GREGORY A. BLUE, ESQ.
· · · · · ··-AND·BRAGAR EAGEL & SQUIRE, PC
· · · ·885 Third Avenue - Suite 3040
· · · ·New York, New York 10022
·BY:· ·RAYMOND A. BRAGAR, ESQ.
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·For the Defendant West Publishing Corporation
·d/b/a "West":
·WEIL, GOTSHAL & MANGES LLP
· · · ·767 Fifth Avenue
· · · ·New York, New York 10153-0119
·BY:· ·BENJAMIN E. MARKS, ESQ.
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·2· · · · ·IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED AND AGREED, by and
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·3· ·between the attorneys for the respective parties
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·4· ·herein, that filing and sealing be and the same are
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·5· ·hereby waived.
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·6· · · · ·IT IS FURTHER STIPULATED AND AGREED
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·7· ·that all objections, except as to the form of the
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·8· ·question, shall be reserved to the time
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·9· ·of the trial.
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10· · · · ·IT IS FURTHER STIPULATED AND AGREED that the
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11· ·within deposition may be signed and sworn to before
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13· ·the same force and effect as if signed and sworn to
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14· ·before the officer before whom the within deposition
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REPORTERS CENTRAL, LLC * 212-594-3582

Page 5 (Pages 17-20)
Page 17

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·1· · · ··T. Leighton - Highly Confidential
·
·2· ·name, or are the people who acquire this given sort
·
·3· ·of an instruction to go out and get certain types of
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·4· ·documents?
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·5· · · · · · ··MR. MARKS:··Objection to the form of the
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·6· · · · ·question.
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·7· · · · · · ··You can answer, if you understand.
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·8· · · · ·A.· ·Generally speaking, the documents
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·9· ·would -- people would be given lead lists of cases
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10· ·that meet our criteria, and they would then be going
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11· ·to look for certain documents within the case type,
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12· ·since we are not -- we tend not to get all documents
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13· ·from a given case.
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14· · · · ·Q.· ·These could include, I would assume,
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15· ·ongoing cases -·
16· · · · ·A.· ·There could.
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17· · · · ·Q.· ·-- in which there would be new files that
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18· ·are going on?
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19· · · · ·A.· ·Yes.
·
20· · · · ·Q.· ·What happens in the case of an ongoing
·
21· ·litigation, is that something that is followed by
·
22· ·people who acquire the content on an ongoing basis
·
23· ·to acquire the documents as they are filed?
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24· · · · ·A.· ·Generally not.
·
25· · · · · · ··That would generally be -- we have got a

Page 19

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·1· · · ··T. Leighton - Highly Confidential
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·2· ·could be on within 24 hours.
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·3· · · · · · ··For other documents it would generally
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·4· ·take a number of days.
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·5· · · · ·Q.· ·Can you give me a sense of the volume of
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·6· ·documents, in terms of the number of documents, that
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·7· ·are processed by your department, on whatever basis
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·8· ·you might know, maybe an annual basis, or a daily
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·9· ·basis, whatever it is?
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10· · · · · · ··MR. MARKS:··Objection to the form of the
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11· · · · ·question.
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12· · · · · · ··You can answer.
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13· · · · ·A.· ·It varies a great deal.
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14· · · · · · ··We set certain targets at the beginning
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15· ·of the year, and it fluctuates by document type, but
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16· ·we have got approximately 11 million different
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17· ·documents on-line at this point.
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18· · · · ·Q.· ·When did West start acquiring these types
·
19· ·of litigation documents to put in the database?
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20· · · · · · ··MR. MARKS:··Objection to form.
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21· · · · ·Q.· ·I am not talking about court decisions,
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22· ·but papers filed by attorneys, briefs, motions, that
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23· ·sort of thing.
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24· · · · ·A.· ·We started acquiring appellate briefs in
·
25· ·2003.

Page 18

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·1· · · ··T. Leighton - Highly Confidential
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·2· ·group of people called content acquisition
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·3· ·specialists on my team in Eagan, in the field, in
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·4· ·places in the country, and they would be responsible
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·5· ·for deciding whether to follow up on individual
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·6· ·cases.
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·7· · · · ·Q.· ·Just so I understand, there is not some
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·8· ·sort of automatic process where every new filing in
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·9· ·the cases that you are following would automatically
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10· ·be acquired according to the process that you
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11· ·described?
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12· · · · ·A.· ·No.
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13· · · · ·Q.· ·Someone would have to make a decision to
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14· ·go back and either download or scan those files to
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15· ·get them into the system, correct?
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16· · · · ·A.· ·Yes.
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17· · · · ·Q.· ·In instances in which you have the vendor
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18· ·acquire the document and put it through the process
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19· ·to get it into the Westlaw database, what is the
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20· ·approximate turnaround time between the time that
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21· ·you, say, acquire a document, and it showing up in
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22· ·the database?
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23· · · · ·A.· ·It depends on, again, whether -- there
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24· ·are some things that are marked as a different
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25· ·urgency, and if it's a more urgent document, it

Page 20

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·1· · · ··T. Leighton - Highly Confidential
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·2· · · · ·Q.· ·What about district court-level briefs?
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·3· · · · ·A.· ·We started acquiring those documents in
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·4· ·2005.
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·5· · · · ·Q.· ·Is it different for the state court
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·6· ·systems?
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·7· · · · · · ··MR. MARKS:··Objection to form.
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·8· · · · ·Q.· ·When you said appellate-level briefs, I
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·9· ·immediately jumped to the federal courts of appeals,
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10· ·and I realize that there are appellate-level briefs,
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11· ·of course, at the state level.
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12· · · · ·A.· ·Yes.
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13· · · · ·Q.· ·Were you acquiring appellate-level briefs
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14· ·at the state level as far back as 2003, or was that
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15· ·at a different time?
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16· · · · ·A.· ·That was 2003 as well.
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17· · · · ·Q.· ·I know you said that there are
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18· ·approximately 11 million documents in the database
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19· ·at this point.
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20· · · · ·A.· ·Yes.
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21· · · · ·Q.· ·Do you know approximately how many are
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22· ·being added each year?
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23· · · · ·A.· ·I don't have a solid number.
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24· · · · ·Q.· ·Does your department have written
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25· ·materials that people acquiring the content use as a

REPORTERS CENTRAL, LLC * 212-594-3582