GSC Logistics, Inc. v. Amazon.com Services LLC

Background

The court reviewed submissions concerning two discovery disputes. One concerned Amazon’s assertions that certain documents were protected from disclosure by privilege. The other concerned testimony from Amazon’s corporate representative at a November 22, 2024 deposition conducted under Rule 30(b)(6), a rule allowing a party to question an organization through one or more designated representatives.

Deposition Dispute

GSC argued that Amazon’s previously designated representative was not adequately prepared and did not sufficiently answer questions about certain topics, including the On Time Delivery Service Level Agreement. GSC sought permission to depose another Amazon representative, Sean Trovato, as a remedy.

The court explained that sanctions may be appropriate when an organization produces a witness who is so unprepared that it is effectively a failure to appear. But the testimony must be seriously inadequate, not merely less specific than the requesting party wanted in isolated areas. The court found that GSC identified two areas of alleged inadequacy, but that the alleged failures were not serious enough to meet that standard.

The court therefore denied GSC’s motion concerning the Rule 30(b)(6) deposition.

Privilege Dispute and Other Directions

The court did not decide the privilege dispute in this order. Instead, it ordered counsel to attend a remote conference on Thursday, January 16, 2025, at 4:00 p.m. It also directed counsel for GSC to email the court, copying Amazon’s counsel, an Excel version of Exhibit 2 to ECF No. 83 by January 10, 2025.

Judge Jessica G. L. Clarke directed the clerk to terminate ECF Nos. 84 and 80. The order states that ECF No. 80 had been addressed during a November 25, 2024 conference between the parties and the court.