Arctic Cat, Inc. v. Injection Research Specialists, Inc.

210 F.R.D. 680, 54 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 437, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20809, 2002 WL 31396925
CourtDistrict Court, D. Minnesota
DecidedAugust 28, 2002
DocketNo. CIV. 01-543 (MJD/RLE)
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 210 F.R.D. 680 (Arctic Cat, Inc. v. Injection Research Specialists, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Arctic Cat, Inc. v. Injection Research Specialists, Inc., 210 F.R.D. 680, 54 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 437, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20809, 2002 WL 31396925 (mnd 2002).

Opinion

ORDER

ERICKSON, United States Magistrate Judge.

I. Introduction

On August 1, 2002, the Court heard argument on the Motion of the Defendants Injection Research Specialists, Inc., and Pacer Industries, Inc. (collectively, “IRS”), Motion to Compel, and for an award of sanctions. At the time of the Hearing, the Plaintiff Arctic Cat, Inc. (“Arctic Cat”), appeared by J. Derek Vandenburgh, Esq., and IRS appeared by Robert J. Blanch, Esq. For reasons which follow, we grant, in part, IRS’s Motion.

II. Factual and Procedural History

On June 5, 2002, IRS served upon Arctic Cat five Notices for the taking of depositions, pursuant to Rule 30(b)(6), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. See, Exs. 1-5, Declaration of Robert J. Blanch in Support of Injection Research Specialists, Inc.’s and Pacer Industries, Inc.’s Motion to Compel (“Blanch Decl.”). The broad areas of discovery, which would be sought during those depositions, included “the use of electronic fuel injection [ (“EFI”) jsystems contained in Arctic Cat products,” “the [EFI] systems used in Arctic Cat products,” “the structure, function and operation of [EFI] systems manufactured by Unisia JECS Corp. used in Arctic Cat Products,” “the structure, function and operation of [EFI] systems manufactured by Kokusan Denki Co., Ltd. used in Arctic Cat products,” and “sales of accused products.” Id. The depositions were set for June 25 through 28, 2002, and for July 11, 2002.

It appears that, on May 15, 2002, IRS served two prior Deposition Notices upon Arctic Cat, to which Arctic Cat took exception. Those two Deposition Notices were entitled “the structure, function and operation of [EFI] systems used in the accused products, Ex. K to Declaration of Jeffer Ali in Support of Arctic Cat’ s Opposition to Defendants’ Motion to Compel and for Sanctions (‘Jeffer Decl.’)”, and “the first use of [EFI] systems used in the accused products,” Ex. L to Jeffer Decl. Thereafter, the parties conferred on the Deposition Notices and, apparently, IRS agreed to serve amended Notices. Ex. M to Jeffer Decl. In addition, Arctic Cat requested IRS to “particularize the topics for deposition in the notice of deposition of Arctic Cat Re the First Use of [EFI] Systems Used in the Accused Products.” Id. As already noted, the amended Notices were served on June 5, 2002, and, to our knowledge, Arctic Cat made no other mention that it felt the areas designated for inquiry were vague or ambiguous and, more importantly, Arctic Cat did not move for a Protective Order to delimit the areas of inquiry. Rather, the only other correspondence, between June 5, 2002, and the deposition dates, was Arctic Cat’s letter of June 18, 2002, which stated that Arctic Cat “[would] be producing a witness or witnesses in response to IRS’s amended deposition notices for depositions beginning the 25th.” Ex. 7 to Blanch Decl.

The depositions were conducted on June 25 through 27, 2002, and Arctic Cat produced [682]*682Kim Chervestad (“Chervestad”) as the sole deponent for all of the designated areas of inquiry. IRS has now moved to compel Arctic Cat to provide discovery, as well as one or more knowledgeable deponents, for the Rule 30(b)(6) depositions, and they also seek an award of sanctions for alleged discovery abuses. In support of the Motion, IRS contends that, although it served proper Rule 30(b)(6) Deposition Notices, Arctic Cat failed to provide a knowledgeable deponent on a number of the topics that had been noticed. IRS also asserts that Arctic Cat has provided deficient discovery responses in a number of areas.

In turn, Arctic Cat claims that, except for the first day of the depositions — as to which it admits that it did not proffer a knowledgeable deponent — the failure of discovery, if any there be, is attributable to the absence of specificity in IRS’s Deposition Notice, or to the failure of IRS’s counsel to prepare for the depositions. IRS further argues that, to the extent that it has any of the additional discovery that IRS now requests, that discovery did not fall within any of IRS’s previous discovery requests and, therefore, no discovery was required.

III. Discussion

Since the bulk of IRS’s Motion focuses on the depositions that were scheduled for June 25 through 28, 2002, and for July 11, 2002, we first address the pertinent Deposition Notices, and the responses of the deponent, and then turn to IRS’s Motion to Compel other discovery.

A. “The Use of [EFI] Systems Contained in Arctic Cat Products.”

As noted, for three of the Rule 30(b)(6) depositions, Arctic Cat produced a single witness. According to Arctic Cat, during the deposition of that witness, on the first day of the depositions, which related to “the use of [EFI] systems contained in Arctic Cat products,” Ex. 1 to Blanch Decl., Arctic Cat came to realize that an individual, from its marketing department, would have been better suited to respond to IRS’s questions. Ex. 11 to Blanch Decl. Arctic Cat contends, however, that the vagueness and ambiguity of the Deposition Notices caused it to produce a less than knowledgeable deponent. Id. We cannot agree.

The pertinent Deposition Notice designated the following topics for inquiry:

1. Arctic Cat’s use of electronic fuel injection (“EFI”) systems (including demonstrations to customers or other) and/or EFI equipped two cycle engine products for the period from January 1, 1995 to the present.
2. Arctic Cat’s knowledge of its customers’, including dealers’ distributors’ and end users’ use of Arctic Cat EFI equipped two cycle engine products from January 1, 1995 to the present.
3. Arctic Cat’s efforts to instruct, encourage or induce the use of its EFI systems and/ or EFI equipped two cycle engine products by its customers or prospective customers.
4. Arctic Cat’s efforts to market or promote its products using EFI systems, including the content of its advertising, marketing and promotional materials relating to EFI equipped products and the location of representative samples of all such materials.

Ex. 1 to Blanch Decl.

As the deponent was unable to meaningfully respond to most of the questions on these topics — which is abundantly plain from a reading of the deposition transcript, Ex. A to Ali Decl., Arctic Cat has agreed to produce a witness, in response to the noted areas of inquiry, but it opposes paying the one-third of IRS’s expenses, which were incurred in taking the depositions, and which IRS demands, because it believes that the vague Deposition Notice caused the lack of discovery. Id.; Ex. 19 to Blanch Decl. Arctic Cat also contends that IRS was able to utilize part of the day in order to lay the framework for the remaining two days of depositions.

Since Arctic Cat has agreed to produce a new, and qualified deponent, we need not address IRS’s Motion to Compel that result, and we deny that aspect of the Motion as moot. In view of the deponent’s abject inability to provide substantive answers to the questions IRS posed, however, we con-[683]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Dwelly v. Yamaha Motor Corp.
214 F.R.D. 537 (D. Minnesota, 2003)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
210 F.R.D. 680, 54 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 437, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20809, 2002 WL 31396925, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/arctic-cat-inc-v-injection-research-specialists-inc-mnd-2002.