Rosendale v. Mr. Cooper Group Inc.

Background

At a December 2, 2022 telephone conference, the court extended the defendants’ deadline for submitting rebuttal expert reports. Donald P. Rosendale, who was representing himself, then asked for 14 additional days to question a defendants’ witness and requested that the defendants pay $1,000 in deposition costs. He said the request was in the interest of fairness because the defendants had received more time for their rebuttal reports. The defendants opposed the request.

Rosendale later submitted the transcript of his deposition of the defendants’ witness, Corrie Williams. The opinion says Rosendale’s concern involved questions about Defendant Nationstar Mortgage LLC’s withdrawal of an application for mortgage insurance. The court had previously determined that information was generally not relevant to the action.

Court’s reasoning

The court found Rosendale had an adequate opportunity to depose the witness, object to the deposition, and raise deposition issues before the court. It also found that Rosendale waited until weeks after the deadline for deposing non-expert witnesses had passed before requesting additional time. The court contrasted that timing with the defendants’ request, which had been raised before their deadline expired.

After reviewing the transcript, the court did not find that Williams had refused to answer Rosendale’s questions. The court said Williams appeared to have answered to the best of her knowledge and was not required to testify about irrelevant inquiries.

Ruling

The court denied Rosendale’s request for additional time to depose the defendants’ witness and for the defendants to pay deposition costs. Judge Paul E. Davison advised Rosendale that any request for review of the order had to be made within 14 days after service of the order.