Cordova v. EmblemHealth Inc.

Background

The defendants’ counsel submitted a letter application concerning discovery in this putative class and collective wage-and-hour action. The letter states that there were 26 named and opt-in plaintiffs, that the parties had produced more than 20,000 pages of documents, and that depositions had been taken of 25 plaintiffs and five current or former company representatives. Fact discovery was scheduled to close on March 29, 2024. The letter also states that the parties had scheduled private mediation for April 29, 2024.

Discovery disputes

The defendants described two disputes. First, they sought limited cellphone records from all plaintiffs for the periods at issue in their employment. The requested records would show the dates and times of calls and texts, without the content of text messages, and would permit redaction of phone numbers for nonbusiness communications. The defendants argued that these records were relevant to testing the plaintiffs’ claims about the hours they worked while working remotely and their alleged lack of personal activities or breaks.

Second, the defendants stated that opt-in plaintiff Jimmy Martinez had not responded to their written discovery or appeared for a deposition, although the other 25 plaintiffs had done so. The defendants asked the court to conditionally dismiss Martinez’s opt-in claims unless he provided complete written discovery responses within 10 days after an order on the application and appeared for a virtual deposition within 20 days after providing those responses.

Action shown in the supplied text

The judge’s endorsement states: “By separate order, the Court is referring the matter to Judge Gorenstein for general pretrial purposes.” The supplied text does not include a ruling granting or denying the defendants’ requests to compel cellphone records or conditionally dismiss Martinez’s claims. It therefore does not establish how either discovery dispute was resolved.