Innovatus Capital Partners, LLC v. Neuman

Background

The court endorsed letters concerning discovery in two related cases. Innovatus Capital Partners, LLC is identified as the plaintiff in the case against Neuman and as the defendant in the case brought by MV Realty, PBC, LLC. The letters concerned materials and methods allegedly generated by Innovatus while the parties worked together, MV Realty's pursuit of residential title-lock transactions, and discovery relevant to Innovatus's claims and a possible monetary recovery.

The letters referred to earlier court orders dated December 23, 2020, and February 11, 2021. According to Innovatus's letter, those orders allowed discovery about MV Realty's methods and profitability and directed Innovatus to produce discovery about the extent to which it had used materials generated by its efforts. Innovatus argued that MV Realty's financial information was relevant to determining MV Realty's alleged unjust enrichment. Innovatus also sought documents from Stifel, Nicolaus & Company Incorporated and Realty Holdings USA, LLC under subpoenas.

MV Realty's response said that it had produced hundreds of thousands of pages concerning its business but that Innovatus had not produced documents about its own pursuit of residential title-lock transactions or answered pending requests for admissions. MV Realty also said it had produced financial information and would complete additional production after Innovatus identified the materials it claimed to have supplied.

Court's Order

The March 23 endorsement states that Innovatus must provide a clear and meaningful response to the pending interrogatory identifying the material discussed in the February 11 order, begin producing documents about its own pursuit of residential title-lock transactions, and answer the pending requests for admissions without further delay. Innovatus also must allow MV Realty to complete its production and review the Stifel documents for production based on the list of methods Innovatus was to provide. The endorsement states that this must occur before MV Realty is required to proceed further with its production.

The court did not decide the underlying claims or the parties' competing positions about unjust enrichment, the usefulness of Innovatus's methods, or the source of MV Realty's success. Judge Louis L. Stanton signed the endorsement, which concludes: "So ordered."

Disposition and Classification

This was a procedural discovery order. It directed steps concerning interrogatories, requests for admissions, document production, and subpoena-related materials; it did not grant or deny judgment on the underlying claims.