Senne v. Office of the Commissioner of Baseball

Background

The plaintiffs and certain individuals represented by Mssrs. Kornhauser and David, whom the opinion calls “Objectors,” filed a joint discovery letter concerning the plaintiffs’ requested depositions of the Objectors. The court identified two issues: whether the appeal by Daniel Concepcion, Anthony Garcia, Sidney Duprey Conde, and Aldemar Burgos—the “Appealing Objectors”—would delay implementation of the class-action settlement, and whether the plaintiffs could depose those four individuals.

Effect of the Appeal on the Settlement

The Objectors argued that their appeal concerned only the distribution of settlement funds and an attorneys’ fee award, not the court’s final approval of the settlement. The court rejected that argument. Applying California law to the settlement agreement, the court concluded that settlement funding, payments to class members, and issuance of a memorandum to the Major League Clubs were conditioned on the agreement’s “Effective Date.” The agreement defined that date, when an appeal was taken, as the day after all appeals were resolved in favor of final approval.

The court therefore ruled that, unless the appeal was withdrawn, the Effective Date would occur only after the appeal was resolved in favor of final approval. The court also stated that the Objectors’ argument was frivolous and that their challenge to the amount of their settlement payments challenged the allocation formula approved by the court.

Depositions

The court found the plaintiffs’ narrowed request to depose the Appealing Objectors reasonable. It held that the plaintiffs could seek relevant and reasonably limited information about each objector’s status as a settlement-class member, the basis for the objections, and relationships with counsel that could bear on the appeal. The court noted that this information could be used in connection with possible motions in the district court or appellate proceeding, including a request for an appeal bond or sanctions.

The court also referred to what it described as Objectors’ counsel’s history of meritless motions in the case, the representation of three Objectors by Mr. Kornhauser in a separate case against Major League Baseball, and repeated assertions that the appeal would not delay implementation of the settlement. It concluded that these circumstances provided a sufficient basis to compel the depositions.

Order

The court ordered the Appealing Objectors to sit for depositions within 45 days of the order. Each deposition could last no more than four hours. The permitted subjects were: the specific grounds for the objections; the Objectors’ relationships with Mssrs. Kornhauser and David; whether they could post an appellate bond and pay the plaintiffs’ appeal-related costs; and whether they understood the settlement agreement, including its Effective Date and implementation terms.