Bois v. Levi Strauss & Co.

Background

This discovery order addresses disputes raised in the parties’ November 8, 2023, joint statement. The order notes that Judge Thompson had set November 27, 2023, as the fact-discovery cutoff. The order was signed by a United States Magistrate Judge whose signature block is reproduced in the opinion text as “AL TSE.”

Discovery obligations imposed on plaintiff

1. If Julia Bois remembered the password or passwords she created for Levi Strauss laptops assigned to her as an employee, she had to provide that information to defense counsel by the close of business on November 24, 2023. If she did not remember the passwords, she had to provide a sworn declaration saying so.

2. By November 27, 2023, Bois had to produce all documents in her possession, custody, or control that responded to Levi Strauss’s requests for production, as well as all initial-disclosure materials covered by General Order 71.

3. Bois had to attend her deposition on November 30, 2023, at 9:00 a.m. at Paul Hastings LLP’s office in San Francisco. The deposition was limited to one day and seven hours on the record under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 30(d)(1).

4. The text provided is incomplete regarding the dates for the depositions of Levi Strauss fact witnesses Lauren Uchrin and Stacy Doren. It states that each deposition would be limited to seven hours but does not show the full ruling about the dates.

Requests concerning depositions

Bois sought to depose Levi Strauss CEO Chip Bergh. The court treated that request as an “apex deposition”—a deposition of a company’s highest-level official—and explained that such a deposition requires a showing that the official has unique or superior personal knowledge of discoverable information. The court found that Bois had made no such showing and denied her request for Levi Strauss to provide the next available deposition dates for Bergh.

Bois also asserted that Levi Strauss had notice of her intent to take a deposition of an entity representative under Rule 30(b)(6) and requested the next available dates for that representative. The court noted that there was no indication that Bois had served a Rule 30(b)(6) deposition notice, which must describe with reasonable particularity the matters for examination. The provided text does not expressly state whether the court granted, denied, or otherwise disposed of this request.

Case schedule

Bois requested a 90-day extension of the case schedule, including moving the fact-discovery cutoff from November 27, 2023, to February 27, 2024. Levi Strauss opposed the request. The court denied Bois’s request and stated that any request for relief from the case schedule had to be directed to Judge Thompson rather than the magistrate judge issuing this order.

Disposition

The court denied Bois’s request for dates to depose Bergh and denied her request to extend the case schedule. It imposed the discovery deadlines and deposition requirement described above. The order states that each side would bear its own fees and costs. Judge Tse issued the order.