In re Tether and Bitfinex Crypto Asset Litigation

Issue

The plaintiffs requested permission to take up to 15 depositions, rather than the 10-deposition limit set by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The B/T Defendants did not oppose expanding the limit to 15 but argued that the plaintiffs had not shown cause to go beyond the standard limit. Poloniex argued that the request was premature.

Court’s analysis

The court explained that a party seeking more than 10 depositions must obtain the court’s permission. In deciding whether to expand the limit, the court considers factors such as the relevance of the additional discovery, the burden involved, and whether the depositions would duplicate other discovery. Courts commonly require parties to use the initial 10-deposition limit before seeking more, but an earlier expansion may be appropriate when the parties agree or the case requires broader discovery.

The court recognized that this was a complicated case involving extensive discovery. Although it was difficult to fully evaluate the request before the plaintiffs had taken depositions or identified specific proposed deponents, the plaintiffs and the B/T Defendants agreed that at least 15 depositions were warranted. The court credited the plaintiffs’ initial showing that additional depositions were relevant.

Ruling

Judge Failla granted the plaintiffs’ motion to expand the deposition limit to 15 depositions. The 15-deposition limit includes Rule 30(b)(6) depositions, which are depositions in which an organization designates a witness to testify about specified topics. The court did not decide whether any depositions beyond 15 would be warranted because that question was premature. It warned that any future request for additional depositions would receive increased scrutiny and stated that the plaintiffs should select only witnesses who are truly important. The clerk was directed to terminate the pending motions at docket entries 351 and 352.