National Fire Protection Association, Inc. v. Does 1-200

Background

NFPA submitted a letter under the court’s local discovery procedures concerning disputes with defendants. NFPA sought to depose Amish Gupta and Arun Anand, who the letter identifies as residing in Canada. NFPA requested that they be required to travel to New York for their depositions. Alternatively, NFPA asked that the depositions occur in Canada and that Gupta and Anand pay certain travel expenses and attorney fees if separate Canadian locations were required.

NFPA also asked for a protective order addressing a deposition notice issued by the Canadian defendants under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 30(b)(6). NFPA argued that the notice, served one week before the proposed deposition, did not provide reasonable notice. NFPA further asked the court to extend the November 18, 2019 fact-discovery deadline or allow the depositions to occur after that deadline.

Order

The court’s endorsement did not decide whether Gupta or Anand had to appear in New York, whether anyone had to pay deposition-related expenses, whether the Rule 30(b)(6) notice should be changed, or whether the discovery deadline should be extended. Instead, the court ordered defendants to respond to NFPA’s letter by 12:00 p.m. on November 15, 2019, because fact discovery was scheduled to close on November 18, 2019. The order was signed by Judge Katherine Polk Failla.

Classification

This is a procedural order because it addresses the handling of a discovery dispute without deciding the underlying claims or finally resolving NFPA’s requested discovery relief.