Shukla v. Deloitte Consulting LLP

Background

Deloitte Consulting LLP asked the court to require Ashu Shukla to appear for a deposition on July 23, 27, or 28, 2021. In an earlier order, the court directed Shukla to respond by 11:59 p.m. on June 25 and stated that it intended to order a deposition if he did not timely respond or did not propose dates between July 17 and July 30. Shukla instead filed a text-only submission challenging the court’s authority to order depositions, asserting that document discovery was not complete. He did not file the response required by the June 22 order.

Order

The court ordered Shukla to appear for a remote deposition for up to seven hours on July 23, 27, and/or 28, between 9:00 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Eastern time. The court stated that even if Shukla were correct that Deloitte should produce additional documents, that would not excuse his refusal to appear for his own deposition. The court also stated that the deposition order did not prevent the parties from seeking additional documents based on deposition testimony.

Potential consequence of noncompliance

Judge Stewart D. Aaron stated that if Shukla failed to make himself available for, or refused to proceed with, the deposition on the specified dates, the judge would recommend that the case be dismissed for failure to obey discovery orders under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(b) and/or failure to prosecute under Rule 41(b). The June 25 order required Shukla’s deposition but did not itself dismiss the case.