In papers filed yesterday, music mogul Jay Z (Shawn Carter) moved by order to show cause to block a court ordered deposition.  In the underlying suit, the plaintiff claims to be owed compensation for having created the logo for Jay Z’s record label, Roc-A-Fella. Jay Z argues that, despite the court having earlier ordered the deposition for this week, discovery has since confirmed that he would have no relevant knowledge, and that the deposition would be purely for harassment:
Continue Reading Jay Z Moves to Block Court-Ordered Deposition in Suit Over Roc-A-Fella Logo

In an opinion yesterday, Magistrate Judge Ellis sanctioned The Money Store and other related defendants for failing to preserve evidence held by a third party vendor, Fidelity National Foreclosure Solutions. The underlying class action accuses the defendants of improper debt collection practices relating to mortgage loans, and the plaintiff argued that evidence from a database created by Fidelity (referred to as the “New Invoice System”) was improperly lost. Calling to mind a similar opinion from Magistrate Judge Mass two years ago (see this post), Judge Ellis found that, since the defendants has the legal right and practical ability to direct Fidelity to preserve evidence, they were required to do so:
Continue Reading Judge Ellis Sanctions Party for Failing to Preserve Evidence Held by Nonparty Vendor