Keebaugh v. International Business Machines Corp.

Background

Terry Keebaugh sued International Business Machines Corporation. She alleged that IBM terminated her employment on November 30, 2016, at age 55, as part of age-based workforce reorganizations and a “Skills Transformation Plan.” She attributed those efforts in part to IBM CEO Ginni Rometty and CHRO Diane Gherson. The opinion describes Keebaugh’s allegations that IBM sought a younger workforce, including through a “Millennial Task Force.”

IBM objected to Keebaugh’s request to depose Rometty and Gherson before other witnesses. IBM argued that lower-level employees on Keebaugh’s tentative deposition list had more direct knowledge or should be questioned first. Keebaugh argued that Rometty and Gherson were involved in designing or approving IBM’s workforce plans and therefore had relevant, unique knowledge.

Legal Standard

The court explained that discovery generally covers nonprivileged information relevant to a claim or defense. For depositions of senior corporate executives, courts consider whether the executive likely has relevant, personal, and non-duplicative information and whether another source could provide the same information. The party seeking to block or delay the deposition bears the burden of proof.

Rometty’s Deposition

The court granted IBM’s request to delay Rometty’s deposition. Although Keebaugh’s allegations and submitted emails showed that Rometty knew about the workforce plans and may have been involved in their development, the court found that the record did not show that her information would substantially differ from information available from lower-level employees.

The court identified three witnesses who appeared to have more direct knowledge of Keebaugh’s termination: her former supervisor, J. Casey George; her former manager, Sherry Lautenbach; and Stephen Leonard, IBM’s General Manager of IBM North America. All three appeared on Keebaugh’s tentative deposition list. The court allowed Keebaugh to take Rometty’s deposition after developing a foundation for believing that Rometty possessed personal, non-duplicative knowledge of relevant facts.

Gherson’s Deposition

The court denied IBM’s request to delay Gherson’s deposition. Keebaugh submitted evidence from another IBM-related deposition in which Gherson reportedly discussed bringing in “fresh talent,” including early-career professionals, and evidence from an earlier summary-judgment decision discussing Gherson’s statements about the skills millennials bring to the workforce.

The court concluded that this evidence sufficiently supported an inference that Gherson, as IBM’s CHRO, had unique and personal knowledge about IBM’s reasons for implementing the alleged workforce reorganizations and Millennial Task Force. Keebaugh could therefore depose Gherson at any point during fact discovery.

Disposition

The court stated that IBM’s motion was granted in part and denied in part. It granted IBM’s request to delay Rometty’s deposition until after Keebaugh took other depositions and established that Rometty had personal, non-duplicative information. It denied IBM’s request to delay Gherson’s deposition. The court also extended the fact-discovery deadline to April 10, 2020, and directed the parties to submit a joint letter by March 13, 2020, if they could not resolve later disputes about Rometty’s deposition.