Palmieri v. East Coast Power & Gas, LLC
- Ronnie Abrams
- 1:20-cv-02663
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Palmieri v. East Coast Power & Gas, Judge Moses ordered Milanese to produce documents about the company’s finances and Palmieri’s responsibility.
Defendant Milanese must produce responsive documents to Palmieri, subject to the case’s stipulated protective order. The order concerns statements from Milanese’s matrimonial proceeding and the interests protected by New York Civil Rights Law § 235.
What happened
Palmieri v. East Coast Power & Gas, LLC involved Palmieri’s request for documents from defendant Milanese concerning East Coast Power & Gas, LLC and Palmieri’s responsibility for the company’s financial condition.
The court ordered Milanese to promptly produce documents responsive to Request for Production No. 34, including sworn statements from his New York matrimonial proceeding. The court allowed any qualifying documents to be marked confidential under the protective order in the case.
Judge Barbara Moses ruled that special circumstances justified requiring disclosure despite the protection given to statements from New York matrimonial proceedings. The order was issued after the November 24, 2020 discovery conference.
The detailed version
- Palmieri v. East Coast Power & Gas, LLC · No. 1:20-cv-02663
- Ronnie Abrams
- Nov. 24, 2020
Background
During a discovery conference, Palmieri sought documents from defendant Milanese under Request for Production No. 34. The requested materials included sworn statements Milanese made in a New York matrimonial proceeding about the financial condition of East Coast Power & Gas, LLC and Palmieri’s responsibility for that condition.
Ruling
Judge Barbara Moses ordered Milanese to promptly produce documents responsive to Request for Production No. 34, including the identified sworn statements. The court stated that, if special circumstances were required to compel production of statements from New York matrimonial proceedings, those circumstances existed here. It therefore concluded that the protection afforded by New York Civil Rights Law § 235 had to give way to disclosure of relevant evidence.
The court also stated that documents from the matrimonial file could be designated "CONFIDENTIAL" or "CONFIDENTIAL-ATTORNEY'S EYES ONLY" if they qualified for that treatment under the stipulated protective order in this action.
Disposition and Effect
This was a discovery order requiring defendant Milanese to produce specified documents to Palmieri. It did not decide the underlying claims described in the order. The order was signed by Barbara Moses, United States Magistrate Judge.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.