The Vineyard House, LLC v. Constellation Brands U.S. Operations, Inc.

Nature of the order

This is Pretrial Order No. 3 in a consolidated case. The court entered the order after a November 12, 2020 pretrial conference and addressed trial scheduling, witness testimony, exhibits, deposition designations, sealing motions, and trial instructions.

Trial schedule and procedures

The court confirmed that the bench trial would begin on November 30, 2020, using the Zoom platform. The public would have audio-only access. The court stated that the trial would not be in session on December 3 but would be in session on December 4.

Although an earlier order excluded all witnesses until testimony was completed, the court modified that arrangement at the parties’ request. Each side’s retained and percipient expert witnesses could listen to the trial testimony.

The parties had to file, by noon on November 27, a notice listing the witnesses they expected to call on the first day of trial. The parties were limited to the exhibits submitted on the September 11 exhibit list, with the court using an updated list containing stipulations from Docket No. 183.

Deposition designations and testimony

The court stated that disputes remained concerning Amy Ash, Craig Norris, and John Seethoff. For Amy Ash, the court sustained objections to designations at 16:11–23, 30:9–14, and 32:2–4. The provided text is incomplete after listing additional lines concerning Amy Ash, so the full ruling on those additional lines cannot be determined from this excerpt.

The court overruled the objection to John Seethoff’s designation at 14:1–3. For Craig Norris, the court ruled on the disputed designations in Exhibit 1. The court overruled many objections, sustained some objections, and issued partial rulings for certain designations. In one ruling, the court struck attorney commentary at pages 21:1–2; in another, it struck all attorney commentary and objections. The court also overruled the objection as to lines 16–17 of one designation while sustaining it as to the remaining lines.

Motions to seal

For Constellation Brands U.S.’s administrative motion to seal at Docket No. 181, the court ordered the motion to be refiled within three business days in compliance with the local rules. The court specifically stated that the motion lacked an unredacted version identifying, by highlighting or another clear method, the portions omitted from the redacted version.

For The Vineyard House’s administrative motion to seal at Docket No. 184, refiled at Docket No. 192, the court tentatively denied the motion. The court explained that the proposed redactions appeared largely to rely on Constellation’s designations under a protective order, but the docket did not include a declaration establishing that the documents or portions of them met the applicable standard for sealing. The court stated that a confidentiality designation under a stipulation or protective order was not enough by itself to establish that the material could be filed under seal.

Other evidentiary and trial rulings

The court ordered that the entire transcript of Robert Mondavi’s deposition, marked as Exhibit TX1062, would be admitted rather than read into the testimony. The court also stated that it would read Exhibit A attached to Docket No. 196 concerning rules, instructions, and admonishments.

Disposition

The order states that it terminates Docket Numbers 184 and 192. It does not decide the parties’ underlying claims or defenses; it manages the upcoming trial and resolves or directs action on the specified pretrial matters.