Trireme Energy Holdings, Inc. v. Innogy Renewables US LLC

Background

The order resolves defendants’ and plaintiffs’ discovery letter-motions after the January 7, 2022 discovery conference. It also addresses plaintiffs’ request to seal and redact exhibits attached to a discovery letter-motion.

Discovery rulings

The court stated that defendants’ discovery letter-motion and plaintiffs’ discovery letter-motion were granted in part and denied in part.

The court ordered the following:

- Plaintiffs must make Jim Spencer available for a total of nine hours of examination by defendants, approximately 3.5 additional hours. - Defendants must make Jeff Puterbaugh available for a total of nine hours of examination by plaintiffs. - Defendants must produce Sylvia Ortin-Rios for deposition if plaintiffs notice her deposition. - The court would not require defendants to produce Katja Wunschel for deposition by notice. Wunschel is employed by the non-party RWE Renewables Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung and is based in Germany. The court found that plaintiffs had not shown on the current record that she was an officer, director, or managing agent of a defendant.

Rule 30(b)(6) depositions

Rule 30(b)(6) allows an organization to designate a representative to testify about information known or reasonably available to the organization. The court understood that Ross Brinklow would testify for both Trireme Energy Holdings and its parent, Terra Firma Capital Partners.

For Trireme’s deposition, Brinklow must be prepared to testify about topics 3 and 4 in defendants’ deposition notice. Instead of topics 15 and 16 as written, he must be prepared to testify about the basis for the allegations in Trireme’s complaint. He need not testify about topics 13 and 17. The court stated that the order did not rule on other Trireme topics not discussed in the parties’ submissions.

For Terra Firma’s deposition, Brinklow must be prepared to testify about topics 1 through 5 and 9, and about topic 13 as modified during the conference. Instead of topics 11 and 12, he must be prepared to testify about the basis for the allegations in Trireme’s complaint. He need not testify about topics 6, 7, 8, 10, and 14.

Subpoena and privilege issues

Terra Firma need not conduct additional searches or produce additional documents in response to the second subpoena for documents. The parties must continue meeting and conferring about the remaining privilege disputes. If they cannot resolve those disputes, they must submit a joint letter to the court by January 21, 2022, limited to four pages and accompanied by the relevant portions of defendants’ latest privilege log.

The parties must also promptly discuss production of relevant documents from Sylvia Ortin-Rios’s accounts, databases, or files before her deposition. If they cannot agree, they must submit a joint letter by January 21, 2022, limited to four pages. The order does not permit either party to take more than 10 depositions.

Sealing ruling and disposition

The court granted plaintiffs’ letter-motion to seal and redact. Exhibits 2, 7, and 9 to plaintiffs’ December 21, 2021 discovery letter-motion must remain under seal. The Clerk was directed to unseal the remaining listed exhibits. The Clerk was also directed to close Docket Nos. 94, 96, 97, and 99. Judge Barbara Moses dated the order January 10, 2022, in New York, New York.