Maleeff v. B Communications Ltd

Background

The lead plaintiffs—Rex and Roberta Ling Living Trust u/a December 6, 1990, as Amended, John Taylor Jones, and David Thomas Jones—reported a discovery dispute with B Communications Ltd. (BComm). The dispute concerned information relevant to whether BComm had control over documents held by Bezeq, including D.B.S. Satellite Services (1998) Ltd. (“Yes”). The court had directed the parties to meet and confer about discovery relevant to a four-factor control test involving ownership and control, whether entities operate as one, access to documents in the ordinary course of business, and agency.

The plaintiffs said BComm had produced only a single PDF of public documents, apart from documents supporting an expert report. They requested documents showing requests by BComm officers or directors to Bezeq, a deposition of a BComm corporate representative under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 30(b)(6) about control and document access, and a deadline for substantially completing document production. The plaintiffs also asked the court to require production of the requested documents within 15 days, hold the deposition within 20 days, and set a production deadline within 30 days.

Ruling

Judge J. Paul Oetken granted the request. The court directed BComm to produce, by January 22, 2020, any requests from BComm to Bezeq for documents. It directed the plaintiffs to notice a Rule 30(b)(6) deposition on the control issues by January 27, 2020. The court also ordered BComm to complete all document production, absent unforeseen circumstances, by February 6, 2020. The parties were ordered to file a joint status letter by February 10, 2020, and the discovery deadlines were stayed pending resolution of the dispute. The Clerk was directed to close the motion at Docket Number 116.