I don’t think that there is anything worse than having a client get subpoenaed in a case to which it isn’t a party.  It didn’t want to be drawn into someone else’s problem, to have to scour its records to respond to an unanticipated and intrusive request for documents, and to have to deal with the expense of an outside lawyer to handle the mess.

The good news is that Rule 45 provides greater protection to a non-party responding to a subpoena than it does to a party responding to discovery.  Judge Conrad of the NC Business Court observed in a decision last week, Arris Group, Inc. v. CyberPower Systems (USA), Inc., 2017 NCBC 57, that “[t]he courts have an obligation to protect nonparties from burden and expense imposed without sufficient justification.”(quoting Bank of Am. Corp. v. SR Int’l Bus. Ins. Co., 2006 NCBC LEXIS 17, at *16.  Op. ¶13.

He outlined some of those protections:

• the issuing party must “take reasonable steps to avoid imposing an undue burden or expense on a person subject to the subpoena.”Id. at *11 (quoting N.C. R. Civ. P. 45(c)(1)). Op. ¶13.
• Also,“'[t]he court shall quash or modify the subpoena if’ the recipient demonstrates the existence of any enumerated grounds for objection, including privilege, unreasonableness,and undue burden." Op. ¶14 (quoting N.C.R. Civ. P. 55(c)(5)).
• Furthermore, "[w]here the subpoena requests trade secrets or other confidential information, Rule 45 provides additional safeguards: the court may “quash or modify the subpoena” unless the issuing party “shows a substantial need for the testimony or material that cannot otherwise be met without undue hardship.” N.C. R. Civ. P. 45(c)(7) Op. ¶14.

Judge Conrad also relied on some federal court decisions on the difference between party and non-party status when dealing with discovery matters.  He said that: 

federal courts have also stressed the “distinction between a party and nonparty” in applying the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Beinin v. Ctr. for the Study of Popular Culture, No. C 06-2298 JW (RS), 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22518, at *6 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 16, 2007).  Although parties to litigation must accept the “travails [of discovery] as a natural concomitant of modern civil litigation,” “[n]on-parties have a different set of expectations.” Papst Licensing GmbH & Co. KG v. Apple, Inc., No. 6:15-cv-1095, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 51274, at *9 (N.D. Ill. Apr. 4, 2017). Accordingly, “the fact of nonparty status may be considered by the court in weighing the burdens imposed in the circumstances.” Katz v. Batavia Marine & Sporting Supplies, Inc., 984 F.2d 422, 424 (Fed. Cir. 1993); see also Intermec Techs. Corp. v. Palm, Inc., No. C09-80098 MISC WHA, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 132759, at *7 (N.D. Cal. May 15, 2009)(holding that protections apply “doubly when the respondent is a non-party”).

Op. ¶15 (emphasis added).

So how did Delta Products (the non-party recipient of the Defendant’s subpoena) fare against this backdrop of accommodation to non-parties?  Delta came out pretty well, although not unscathed.

Continue Reading In-House Counsel’s Worst Nightmare: A Subpoena In A Case To Which The Company Is Not A Party

Why would any lawyer think that his Joint Defense Agreement, entered into with a co-defendant, was protected from production by the attorney-client privilege?  Well, the lawyer for one of the Defendants in AP Atlantic, Inc., v. Crescent University City Venture, LLC, 2017 NCBC 48 did, but his position was rejected by NC Business Court Judge Bledsoe last week.

A JDA is a written agreement between separately represented parties with common legal interests (generally relating to pending or anticipated litigation) that allows the parties to share confidential information with each…

Continue Reading Joint Defense Agreements Are Not Protected By The Attorney-Client Privilege

You probably don’t think much, when you are noticing a deposition, about where it should take place.  Ideally, you probably want it to happen in your own office.

The NC Rule of Civil Procedure on depositions, Rule 30, says that the notice of deposition "shall state the time and place for taking the deposition." 

Although you don’t have to subpoena a party to appear at his deposition, there are specific deposition locations identified in the Rule for residents and non-residents of North Carolina.  As to residents, Rule 30(b)(1) says…

Continue Reading Deposition, My Office Or Yours? NC Business Court: Neither

Going pro se in the NC Business Court is a bad idea.  At least it was for the Plaintiff in Gillespie v. Majestic Transport, Inc., 2017 NCBC 43 who saw his claims dismissed (without prejudice) for failing to comply with the Court’s discovery orders and was ordered to pay attorneys’ fees to the Defendant.

Gillespie didn’t start out in the Business Court without a lawyer.  His lawyer was allowed to withdraw in November 2016, and the Court ordered Gillespie to report within the next month regarding his efforts to…

Continue Reading Failure To Comply With Discovery Orders Results In Dismissal Of Pro Se Plaintiff’s Case

There is probably nothing more routine in litigation today than a Plaintiff’s counsel sending a "preservation letter."    A preservation letter, if you’ve never sent or received one, is a letter sent at the outset of litigation — or even before it begins — telling the opposing counsel or party (or even a non-party) to make sure to withhold from destruction documents relevant to the claims.

But who would have ever thought that sending such a routine letter could form the basis for an abuse of process claim?  Apparently it can…

Continue Reading Who Would Ever Have Thought That Sending A Preservation Letter Might Be Dangerous?

There a probably few things in legal practice as annoying as getting a Notice of Deposition for your client’s in-house counsel.

Are you willing to pursue a Motion for a Protective Order to prevent the deposition?  The Defendant in a case before the Business Court tried that, but its Motion was denied in an Order and Opinion last week from Chief Judge Gale, in Edison v. Acuity Healthcare, 2016 NCBC 82.

The proposed deponent is general counsel and vice president of compliance and risk management for Defendant Acuity  The…

Continue Reading Protecting In-House Counsel From Having To Be Deposed

You have probably been in this situation.  Your client is a successful corporate entity, maybe publicly held.  You are defending the entity in a lawsuit and you receive a Notice of Deposition for the CEO of your client.  The CEO is annoyed, says that she knows nothing about the substance of the lawsuit, and that she’s too important (and too darn busy) to sit down for a deposition.  She expects you to get her out of it.

It’s a difficult objective.  The NC Business Court has looked at this set…

Continue Reading Protecting Your Client’s President From Having To Be Deposed: NC Business Court