Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. v. Corcept Therapeutics, Inc.

Background

The initial case-management conference was scheduled for October 31, 2024, and the parties’ conference required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(f) was due by October 10, 2024. Defendants filed an administrative motion to continue the initial case-management conference until December 2024 or January 2025. They argued that the later date might avoid unnecessary disputes related to what they described as potentially futile antitrust discovery.

Teva opposed the motion. It argued that the request was essentially an attempt to stay, or pause, discovery and that an administrative motion was not the proper procedure for seeking that relief.

Court’s Reasoning

The court agreed with Teva. It concluded that granting the administrative motion would postpone the parties’ Rule 26(f) conference so that defendants would not be required to begin discovery until the later date. The court stated that an administrative motion was not procedurally proper for staying discovery. It noted that defendants could seek a discovery stay through the procedure they had previously used under Civil Local Rule 7-4.

The opinion also states that defendants’ earlier motions to dismiss and motions to stay discovery had become moot after Teva filed an amended complaint on September 13, 2024. Those earlier motions were not the subject of the ruling addressed here.

Disposition

Judge Kern Labson Freeman denied defendants’ administrative motion to continue the initial case-management conference with prejudice. The court said it would address any motion to stay discovery once that motion was fully briefed and stated that oral argument is rarely beneficial for this type of motion.