Crain's AutoWeek Sanctioned for Discovery Abuses in Litigation Against Independent Magazines Sales Agents.New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of law firm, Lennon & Klein, P.C., Successfully Represents Magazine Sales Agents and Vendors MEDFORD, Ore. -- The United States District Court United States District Court In the U.S., any of the 94 trial courts of general jurisdiction in the federal judicial system. Each state, as well as the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, has at least one federal district court. in Oregon sanctioned Crain Communications, Inc. for discovery abuses in an action against independent magazine sales agents pending in Michigan. Crain's AutoWeek magazine brought an action for fraud and trademark infringement Trademark infringement is a violation of the exclusive rights attaching to a trademark without the authorization of the trademark owner or any licensees (provided that such authorization was within the scope of the license). against certain independent magazine sales agents and certain of their vendors, including a data processing data processing or information processing, operations (e.g., handling, merging, sorting, and computing) performed upon data in accordance with strictly defined procedures, such as recording and summarizing the financial transactions of a company. (Crain Communications, Inc. v. Magazine Billing Services, Inc., Case No. 2:06-CV-12335 E.D. Mich.) Even though the Michigan court dismissed the action against all of the vendors, Crain sought aggressive discovery against the vendors. Crain issued third party subpoenas which the court found to be over broad and burdensome. Crain then served additional subpoenas to the same vendors seeking some of the same information which the court had already ruled Crain was not entitled en·ti·tle tr.v. en·ti·tled, en·ti·tling, en·ti·tles 1. To give a name or title to. 2. To furnish with a right or claim to something: and also moved to have the vendors held in criminal and civil contempt Noun 1. civil contempt - a failure to follow a court order that benefits someone else contempt of court - disrespect for the rules of a court of law . The Oregon Court denied Crain's motion to have the vendors held in contempt and quashed the subsequent subpoenas. The court found Crain's use of discovery to be improper and sanctioned Crain. The court awarded the vendors their attorneys' fees. (Crain Communications, Inc. v. Tracy Cave, Case No. 08-8011-CL D. Or.) The Oregon Court directed the parties to submit further briefs on the amount of attorneys' fees to be awarded. The vendors stated that they incurred over $70,000 in legal fees and expenses in defending against Crain's unreasonable discovery tactics. The vendors were represented by the New York law firm of Lennon & Klein, P.C. and Powers, McCulloch & Bennett, LLP LLP - Lower Layer Protocol in Oregon. For further information, contact David P. Lennon, Esq., Lennon & Klein, P.C., 245 Park Avenue, 39th floor, New York, NY 10167, 212-465-2020. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion