Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Litigation Blogs -> Delaware Corporate and Commercial Litigation Blog

Litigation

: Delaware Corporate and Commercial Litigation Blog

Court Grants Motion To Compel Discovery From Party's Wholly-Owned Subsidiary Which Was Not a Party to the Litigation

By Francis G.X. Pileggi

Dawson, et al. v. Pittco Capital Partners, L.P., et al.,  No. 3148-CC (Del. Ch.,Feb. 15, 2010), read letter decision here.

Kevin Brady, a highly regarded Delaware litigator, provided this synopsis.

In a short discovery-related letter opinion, Chancellor Chandler granted plaintiffs' motion to compel full interrogatory responses from defendants related to, among other things, the factual and legal bases (including each element) of each defense of the defendants' four affirmative defenses: failure to state a claim, laches, waiver, and unclean hands. Additionally, one of the defendants had apparently resisted production of documents that were in the possession of its wholly-owned subsidiary, which was not a party to this litigation. Apparently finding no Court of Chancery decision on point, Chancellor Chandler cited Delaware federal case law interpreting Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34 noting that 'Federal Court decisions are ‘of great persuasive weight in the construction of parallel Delaware rules' due to the analogous nature of the Court of Chancery Rules and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.' The Chancellor rejected the defendant's position and required it to produce the requested documents from the wholly-owned subsidiary.
 

Full post as published by Delaware Corporate and Commercial Litigation Blog on February 18, 2010 (boomark / email).