BHYS Sales Inc. v. P & R Packaging and Refurbishing Corporation
- Victor Marrero
- 1:19-cv-11397
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In BHYS Sales v. P & R Packaging, Judge Marrero allowed plaintiffs to immediately seek Amazon records and evidence concerning allegedly counterfeit supplements.
BHYS Sales Inc. and PHL Commerce LLC may immediately seek third-party discovery from Amazon.com, Inc.; the discovery concerns allegedly counterfeit items, PHL Commerce LLC’s seller account, and damages-related records.
What happened
BHYS Sales Inc. and PHL Commerce LLC sued P & R Packaging and Refurbishing Corporation and others, alleging that defendants sold them thousands of bottles of counterfeit salmon oil supplements. The plaintiffs sought permission to obtain information from Amazon before the parties held their required discovery-planning conference.
The plaintiffs said Amazon had impounded the items and might destroy them under its policies. They also said Amazon had seller-account records and information needed to calculate damages, including sales figures and storage, shipping, and return costs, which might be routinely deleted. The defendants did not object.
Judge Victor Marrero found good cause for early discovery because the items and records might be destroyed and the plaintiffs appeared to have no other way to obtain the evidence. He ordered that BHYS Sales Inc. and PHL Commerce LLC could immediately serve third-party discovery requests on Amazon concerning the items, PHL Commerce’s seller account, and damages-related records.
The detailed version
- BHYS Sales Inc. v. P & R Packaging and Refurbishing Corporation · No. 1:19-cv-11397
- Victor Marrero
- Apr. 23, 2020
Background
BHYS Sales Inc. and PHL Commerce LLC sued P & R Packaging and Refurbishing Corporation, Edward Palomo, Raphael Badouch, 123 Deals from A to 4 LLC, Juan Royal, and Rl International, LLC. The plaintiffs alleged that the defendants sold them thousands of bottles of counterfeit salmon oil supplements.
The plaintiffs asked for permission under Rule 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to issue third-party subpoenas to Amazon.com, Inc. before the parties held the conference generally required by Rule 26(f). They stated that Amazon had impounded the allegedly counterfeit items and that Amazon policy might lead to their destruction. They also said Amazon possessed PHL Commerce LLC’s seller-account records and information needed to calculate damages, including sales figures and costs for storage, shipping, and returns. The plaintiffs asserted that Amazon might routinely delete some of these records.
The request was presented in a March 19 letter entered on the public docket. The plaintiffs attempted to notify the defendants by email, and the defendants did not object.
Legal Standard
Rule 26(d)(1) generally prevents parties from seeking discovery before the Rule 26(f) conference. The rule allows a court to authorize earlier discovery. The court stated that courts in the Southern District of New York apply a flexible reasonableness-and-good-cause standard to requests for expedited discovery.
Ruling
The court found that expedited discovery was warranted because the impounded items and records might be destroyed under Amazon’s standard practices. The court also found that the plaintiffs appeared to have no alternative way to obtain this critical evidence and had therefore shown good cause.
Judge Victor Marrero ordered that BHYS Sales Inc. and PHL Commerce LLC could immediately serve third-party discovery requests on Amazon.com, Inc. concerning the allegedly counterfeit items, PHL Commerce LLC’s seller account, and records related to damages.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.