In the civil litigation against the Madoff feeder fund Fairfield Greenwich, its auditors and others, Judge Maas on Thursday (Thanksgiving Day), denied the defendants’ letter motion to compel depositions of two SEC employees for the purpose of showing that, since Madoff successfully deceived the SEC, he could have also deceived the defendants. Judge Maas found the proposed depositions to be of “marginal relevance”:
Continue Reading Judge Maas Rejects Request to Depose SEC Officials to Prove Madoff’s Elusiveness
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SEC Opposes Subpoenas for Its Employees to Testify About Having Missed Madoff Fraud
By Charles Michael on
In the civil litigation against the Madoff feeder fund Fairfield Greenwich and other related parties, the defendants issued deposition subpoenas to nine current and former SEC employees for the purpose of eliciting testimony showing that, since Madoff successfully deceived the SEC, he could have also deceived the defendants. In a letter from the SEC posted…
Judge Scheindlin Grants Adverse Jury Instruction Sanction for Email Destruction, Even Absent “Malevolent Purpose”
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Judge Baer Upholds Magistrate’s Denial of Spoliation Sanction for Failure to Issue Litigation Hold
By Jessica Holloway on
Today, Judge Baer adopted and upheld Magistrate Judge Maas’ decision not to assess a spoliation sanction in a declaratory judgment action relating to a construction contract. In an opinion issued on April 20, Judge Maas found that plaintiffs GenOn Mid-Atlantic, LLC and GenOn Chalk Point, LLC had acted at least negligently in failing to instruct FTI Consulting Inc. – a third-party that had assisted them in performing audits related to the relevant contract – to preserve relevant electronic documents. He concluded that the GenOn plaintiffs were “responsible for spoliation” but that no sanction was warranted because defendant “was not prejudiced by the spoliation.” (Our previous post on that decision is here)
Continue Reading Judge Baer Upholds Magistrate’s Denial of Spoliation Sanction for Failure to Issue Litigation Hold
Judge Maas Concludes that Litigant Had a Duty to Preserve Materials in Possession of Outside Consultant
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