Paradigm Sales, Inc. v. Weber Marking Systems, Inc.

880 F. Supp. 1247, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3620, 1995 WL 132057
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Indiana
DecidedMarch 16, 1995
Docket2:93-cv-00202
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 880 F. Supp. 1247 (Paradigm Sales, Inc. v. Weber Marking Systems, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Paradigm Sales, Inc. v. Weber Marking Systems, Inc., 880 F. Supp. 1247, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3620, 1995 WL 132057 (N.D. Ind. 1995).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

MILLER, District Judge.

Several pretrial motions pend in this patent infringement case set for final pretrial conference this date and for trial on March 20. All but one of the motions are fully briefed. In the interest of expediting the final pretrial conference, the court sets forth its rulings in this memorandum.

The most significant of the motions deal with failures to meet deadlines that have been established by the court or to make timely disclosures required, first, by a mandatory disclosure order entered by the court, and later, by amended Rule 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. These are not the first such issues. Both parties have been denied leave to file untimely summary judgment motions, and on February 27, the court granted the motion of defendant Weber Marking Systems, Inc. to exclude the testimony of fifteen of sixteen non-expert witnesses identified by the plaintiff, Paradigm Sales, Inc.

Paradigm contends that a staple gun manufactured by Weber infringes Paradigm’s patent no. 6,014,896 (the ’896 patent). The court earlier granted summary judgment to Weber on Paradigm’s claim of literal infringement; the case is scheduled for trial before a jury on Paradigm’s remaining claim for infringement based on the doctrine of equivalents.

I.

Paradigm seeks the exclusion of a considerable quantity of evidence based on Weber’s failure to comply with the court’s mandatory disclosure order. On May 27, 1993, the court, pursuant to the court’s civil justice expense and delay reduction plan, entered an order for mandatory early disclosures. The court’s order was similar to, though not precisely the same as, the amendments to Fed. R.Civ.P. 26(a) that took effect on December 1, 1993.

In pertinent part, the May 27 order required both parties to disclose, before engaging in discovery:

(a) the name and, if known, the address and telephone number of each individual likely to have information that bears significantly on the claims and defenses, identifying the subject(s) of the information possessed by that individual;
(b) a copy of, or a description by category and location, of all documents, data compilations, and tangible things in the party’s possession, custody, or control that are likely to bear significantly on any claim or defense....

May 27 Order, Part A-l. Weber’s disclosure was to be made within thirty days after its answer was filed. May 27 Order, Part A-2. The order imposed on both parties the obligation “seasonably to supplement” its disclosures upon learning that the information disclosed was not complete and correct. May 27 Order, Part D-l.

Weber filed its answer on April 14, 1993, but did not submit its disclosures until July 9, 1993. Paradigm complains not of the timeliiiess of that initial disclosure, but rather of its completeness.

Weber’s July 1993 disclosure identified two witnesses and 75 documents. Paradigm responded a week later with a motion to exclude undisclosed evidence and to compel the disclosure of undisclosed evidence. In response to that motion, Weber took the position that it could not be required to produce documents that might impact upon claims or defenses that Weber had not yet formulated. Weber cited its duty to supplement and indicated that it would update its responses as soon as it had fully formulated its defenses. On July 23, Weber produced additional documents relating to damages.

*1250 The court denied Paradigm’s motion as premature on August 26,1993. While rejecting Weber’s argument that the May 27 order only required it to disclose material pertinent to its own defenses, the court agreed with Weber that disclosures could not be required with respect to defenses not yet in the case, but warned:

Noninfringement is the only defense Weber has pleaded. The court cannot determine from this record whether Weber has made full disclosure of “information that bears significantly” on that defense or on Paradigm’s claims. If full disclosure has been made and no additional defenses are raised, Weber has complied with the disclosure order. If full disclosure has not been made, Weber will find it difficult to introduce undisclosed evidence (including evidence on Paradigm’s claim for damages) at trial or on summary judgment.... If full disclosure has been made on the non-infringement issues and Paradigm suspects Weber is holding back other defenses for tactical purposes, Paradigm may object on that ground to any motion to amend the pleadings.

Paradigm’s motion, renewed here, is no longer premature. Paradigm seeks the exclusion of all witnesses and documents not disclosed by July 9 (except for an expert witness). Between that date and September 22, 1993, Weber produced 1,755 documents.

Weber opposes the motion, but its opposition contains little suggestion that it promptly disclosed material upon formulation of a defense, or that it was unaware of material when the initial disclosures were made.

The first of Weber’s two principal arguments, which does not apply to all of the evidence at issue here, is that documents were not produced because they did not bear significantly on any claim or defense. Instead, they are cumulative or duplicative of other documents, and were produced only in response to Paradigm’s repetitive discovery requests. The court cannot consider this a winning argument. Taking Weber at its word, such material has slight incremental probative value and carries a significant risk of jury confusion and waste of time; as such the evidence should be excluded pursuant to the court’s discretion under Fed.R.Evid. 403, even without regard to any violation of the disclosure order. Further prejudice may be noted in Paradigm’s inability to proceed through the litigation process as contemplated by the court’s orders, a form of prejudice that enabled Weber to obtain an order excluding several of Paradigm’s intended witnesses.

Weber’s second principal argument is that the parties agreed to stay discovery concerning damages during the pendency of Weber’s bifurcation motion. That motion was filed on September 29,1993, and briefing was stayed on Paradigm’s motion (a motion to which Weber belatedly objected, in part on the basis of the agreed stay of damages discovery) until after court ruled on Paradigm’s then-recently filed partial summary judgment motion. Briefing on the partial summary judgment lasted until the year’s end. The court heard argument on the partial summary judgment motion on February 15 and denied the motion six weeks later, on March 29, 1994. Briefing then resumed on the bifurcation motion; on April 29, 1994, the court granted the motion to bifurcate the trial, but denied the motion insofar as it sought a stay of discovery on damages.

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Bluebook (online)
880 F. Supp. 1247, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3620, 1995 WL 132057, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/paradigm-sales-inc-v-weber-marking-systems-inc-innd-1995.