The State of New York Ex Rel Vinod Khurana et al v. Spherion Corp

Filing 222

ORDER denying 211 Motion for Sanctions. First, unless and until the Court orders otherwise, trial in this matter will begin on Monday, October 19, 2020, at 9:30 a.m. Further, the Court will hold a final pretrial conference on October 14, 2020, at 9:30 a.m. Second, the Court will hold a telephone conference on September 23, 2020, at 3 p.m., to discuss trial-related matters, including a schedule and the appropriate video platform. Accordingly, Defendant's motion for sanctions is DENIED. The Clerk of Court is directed to terminate ECF No. 211. (As further set forth in this Order.) (Signed by Judge Jesse M. Furman on 9/16/2020) (cf) Modified on 9/16/2020 (cf).

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
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STATE OF NEW YORK ex rel. VINOD KHURANA, et :
al.,
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Plaintiffs,
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-v:
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SPHERION CORP. (N/K/A SFN GROUP, INC.),
:
:
Defendant.
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:
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15-CV-6605 (JMF)
ORDER

JESSE M. FURMAN, United States District Judge:
First, unless and until the Court orders otherwise, trial in this matter will begin on
Monday, October 19, 2020, at 9:30 a.m. Further, the Court will hold a final pretrial conference
on October 14, 2020, at 9:30 a.m. The final pretrial conference must be attended by the
attorney or attorneys who will serve as principal trial counsel. Unless and until the Court orders
otherwise, both the final pretrial conference and the trial will be conducted remotely — with
details to be determined and provided later.
The trial date should be treated as a firm date. To that end, counsel should
immediately confirm the trial date with any and all witnesses and advise the Court if the date is a
problem. If counsel fails to bring any such conflict to the Court’s attention within the next
three days, no adjournments will be granted on that basis. The parties are advised that the trial
date will not be adjourned on account of a settlement in principle; put differently, unless the
parties (1) file a stipulation of dismissal or settlement or (2) appear in person to put the material
terms of a settlement on the record (and the Court approves the settlement to the extent that such

approval is required), the parties should be prepared to go to trial as scheduled.
Second, the Court will hold a telephone conference on September 23, 2020, at 3 p.m., to
discuss trial-related matters, including a schedule and the appropriate video platform. With
respect to the latter, the parties should be prepared to discuss the advantages of their proposed
platforms (Court Solutions and Skype for Business) versus TrialGraphix (which other judges in
the District have already used, with success, for remote trials). For more information on the
latter, counsel should visit https://www.trialgraphix.com/.
To access the September 23rd conference, counsel should call 888-363-4749 and use
access code 5421540#. (Members of the press and public may call the same number, but will not
be permitted to speak during the conference.) The parties are reminded to follow the procedures
for teleconferences described in the Court’s Emergency Individual Rules and Practices in Light
of COVID-19, which are available at https://nysd.uscourts.gov/hon-jesse-m-furman. Among
other things, those procedures require counsel to provide advance notice of who will participate
in the conference and the telephone numbers they will use to participate.
Finally, Defendant’s motion for sanctions, ECF No. 211, is DENIED as meritless,
substantially for the reasons set forth in Plaintiff-Relator’s opposition memorandum of law. See
ECF No. 219. From the Court’s review of the record, it seems clear that Plaintiff-Relator’s
emails to his uncle, while inadvisable and in poor taste, had nothing to do with this case and that
Defendant’s motion is little more than a sideshow. Among other things, although Defendant
listed Mr. Kumar on his witness list, see ECF No. 201-3, it did not submit an affidavit from Mr.
Kumar by the deadline, see ECF No. 192, ¶ 4, and makes no reference to him or his prospective
testimony in its proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law, see ECF No. 200. Nor did
Defendant respond to Plaintiff-Relator’s arguments for preclusion of Mr. Kumar’s testimony.

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Compare ECF No. 202, ¶¶ 348-52, with ECF No. 208. These facts, along with PlaintiffRelator’s declaration indicating that he never even reviewed Defendant’s submissions, see ECF
No. 220, ¶¶ 23-26, strongly suggest that Plaintiff-Relator did not even know or believe that Mr.
Kumar would appear at a witness at trial when he sent the emails in question. Accordingly,
Defendant’s motion for sanctions is DENIED. Moreover, and for avoidance of doubt: Mr.
Kumar will not appear as a witness at trial given Defendant’s failure to submit an affidavit from
him by the deadline and given the lack of any opposition to Plaintiff-Relator’s preclusion
arguments.
The Clerk of Court is directed to terminate ECF No. 211.

SO ORDERED.
Dated: September 16, 2020
New York, New York

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JESSE M. FURMAN
United States District Judge

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