Wai Feng Trading Co. LTD et al v. Quick Fitting, Inc.

Filing 164

ORDER denying (157 in 1:13-cv-00033-S-PAS, 214 in 1:13-cv-00056-S-PAS) APPEAL OF MAGISTRATE JUDGE DECISION to District Court by Quick Fitting, Inc. re 150 in 1:13-cv-00033-S-PAS and (205) in 1:13-cv-00056-S-PAS, Order on Motion for Extension of Time to Complete Discovery, Order on Motion to Compel, Order on Motion t o Quashfiled by Quick Fitting, Inc. So Ordered by Chief Judge William E. Smith on 9/30/2016. Associated Cases: 1:13-cv-00033-S-PAS, 1:13-cv-00056-S-PAS(Jackson, Ryan)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF RHODE ISLAND
___________________________________
)
)
)
)
Plaintiffs,
)
)
v.
)
)
QUICK FITTING, INC.,
)
)
Defendant.
)
___________________________________)
)
QUICK FITTING, INC.,
)
)
Plaintiff,
)
)
v.
)
)
WAI FENG TRADING CO.,
)
LTD., ET AL.,
)
)
Defendants.
)
___________________________________)
WAI FENG TRADING CO., LTD. and
EFF MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.,

C.A. No. 13-033 S

consolidated with

C.A. No. 13-056 S

ORDER
WILLIAM E. SMITH, Chief Judge.
Before
Patricia

the

A.

Court

Sullivan’s

is

an

June

Objection
14,

2016

to

Magistrate

Memorandum

and

Judge
Order

Concerning Discovery Issues (“Objection”) (ECF No. 157) filed by
Quick Fitting, Inc. (“Quick Fitting”).
Ltd.,

EFF

Manufactory

Co.,

Ltd.,

Wai Feng Trading Co.,

Eastern

Foundry

&

Fitting,

Inc., Eastern Foundry and Fitting, LLC, Wai Mao Co., Ltd, and
Andrew

Yung

(collectively,

the

“Wai

Feng

parties”)

filed

an

Opposition (ECF No. 159) and Quick Fitting filed a Reply (ECF
No.

161).

For

the

reasons

that

follow,

Quick

Fitting’s

Objection is DENIED.
A

district

decision

on

a

court

may

not

disturb

non-dispositive

motion

erroneous or contrary to law.”
U.S. 667, 673 (1980).

a

magistrate

unless

it

is

judge’s
“clearly

United States v. Raddatz, 447

“In conducting this review, the district

court must refrain from second guessing the magistrate judge’s
pre-trial discovery rulings.”

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care of

New England v. Thompson, 318 F. Supp. 2d 1, 6 (D.R.I. 2004)
(citing Mutual Fire, Marine & Inland Ins. Co. v. Jenckes Mach.
Co., No. 85–0586, 1986 WL 9717, at *1 (D.R.I. Feb. 19, 1986)).
Yet this is precisely what Quick Fitting asks the Court to do in
its

Objection.

While

Quick

Fitting

may

disagree

with

the

judgment calls Magistrate Judge Sullivan made on its discovery
motions,

it

points

to

no

errors

that

rise

to

the

level

of

“clearly erroneous.”
Magistrate Judge Sullivan has had extensive involvement in
the more than three-year tortuous discovery process in these
cases.

As she noted in her Memorandum and Order, “‘everything

has to come to an end, some time,’ so with the fact discovery
phase for these cases.”

(Mem. and Order 2, ECF No. 150 (quoting

L. Frank Baum, The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904), available at
2

http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/L_Frank_Baum/The_Marvelous_Land_o
f_Oz/The_Scarecrow_Takes_Time_to_Think_p1.html).)

Quick Fitting

objects to the following aspects of her decision:
1. the denial of Quick Fitting’s motion to compel the
production of a discrete number of late-produced
emails and their attachments in their native or nearnative, electronic formats so as to enable Quick
Fitting’s full and meaningful use of those documents;
2. the denial of Quick Fitting’s motion to compel the
production of physical pieces of molds and tooling the
Yungs had represented to the Court they would produce
in order to stave off an order concerning their nonproduction early in the litigation; and,
3. the quashing of a telephonic deposition of a thirdparty product-certifying agency known as IAPMO, the
relevance of which was apparent only upon receipt of
documents produced by the Yungs nine days before the
close of discovery that directly contradict the Yungs’
sworn testimony.
(Quick Fitting’s Obj. 2, ECF No. 157 (emphases in original).)
On the first issue, Magistrate Judge Sullivan noted that
Quick Fitting’s discovery request did not “specify the form or
forms

in

which

electronically
under

the

information

Federal

Rules

is
of

to

be

produced,”

as

Procedure.

(Mem. and Order 10-11, ECF No. 150 (quoting Fed. R.

Civ. P. 34(b)).)

allowed

stored

Civil

Given that, and the fact that Quick Fitting’s

justification for needing the documents in native format was
“tepid,” she determined that searchable PDFs – “the same format
that had been acceptable for three and [a] half years” – were

3

generally sufficient. 1

(Id. at 11, 12.)

This decision was not

clearly erroneous.
With respect to the second issue – production of various
molds for inspection – Magistrate Judge Sullivan determined that
“Quick Fitting’s lack of diligence in scheduling the inspection
warrants denial of its motion to compel.”

(Id. at 14.)

While

Quick Fitting may disagree with this characterization of its
conduct, it is far from clearly erroneous.
Regarding the deposition of IAPMO Research & Testing, Inc.
(“IAMPO”), Magistrate Judge Sullivan noted that Quick Fitting
had

already

times

prior

scheduled
to

the

and

close

cancelled
of

this

discovery.

deposition
(Id.

at

several

9.)

She

determined that the small number of “newly produced documents
make it no more or less likely that the product list sent to
IAMPO in May 2013 was based on the theft of Quick Fitting’s
intellectual
trying

to

property”
sneak

in

and
a

that

“Quick

deposition

after

Fitting
the

seems

close

discovery that it could have completed years ago.”

of

to

be

fact

(Id. at 10.)

Once again, Quick Fitting’s disagreement with Magistrate Judge

1

With respect to two of the documents - W03243 and W03250
– Magistrate Judge Sullivan determined that they “arguably might
contain metadata that could be relevant,” and ordered that those
documents be produced, with cost-shifting to Quick Fitting.
(Mem. and Order 12-13, ECF No. 150.)
4

Sullivan’s

interpretation

of

its

conduct

does

not

make

her

decision clearly erroneous.
For the foregoing reasons, Quick Fitting’s Objection (ECF
No. 157) is DENIED.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

William E. Smith
Chief Judge
Date: September 30, 2016

5