Judge Leonard P. Stark recently issued rulings on a host of discovery disputes and, in the process, criticized the parties for abusing his discovery dispute procedure. Softview LLC v. Apple Inc., et al., Consol. C.A. No. 10-389-LPS (D. Del. Feb. 22, 2013). At issue were letters submitted by the parties in connection with the Court’s scheduling of a late afternoon teleconference to resolve various discovery disputes. Specifically, the plaintiff “filed nine separate letters seeking assistance from the Court on more than twenty discovery disputes[,]” and the defendants “filed an additional nine separate letters seeking assistance from the Court on more than ten additional discovery disputes.” Id. at 2 (emphasis in original). All told, including the responsive letters that were filed, Judge Stark explained that the Court received and reviewed a “mass of filings” totaling “36 letters presenting argument on at least 30 discovery disputes.” Id. at 3 (emphasis in original). Judge Stark viewed the volume of material submitted as revealing “that the parties have failed to reasonably communicate with one another or to put forth the expected and required good faith efforts towards resolving discovery disputes.” Id. “[M]ore troubling” to Judge Stark was “that the parties have utterly failed to exercise common sense, inundating the Court with far more than could possibly be addressed during a teleconference that the parties understood (or should have understood) would last only 45 to 60 minutes.” Id.
Softview LLC v. Apple Inc., et al., Consol. C.A. No. 10-389-LPS (D. Del. Feb. 22, 2013). by
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