235-0 WT Brief in Support of Protective Order
May 18th, 2023
Full docket text for document 235:
Brief/Memorandum in Support re [234] MOTION for Protective Order Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P 26(c) filed by Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.. (Wilson, Jon)
DEFENDANT WATCHTOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY OF NEW YORK, INC.’S BRIEF IN SUPPORT OF MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE ORDER PURSUANT TO FED. R. CIV. P. 26(c).
Excerpt:
INTRODUCTION
Defendant Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. (“WTNY”), by and through its attorneys, respectfully submits this brief in support of its Motion for a Protective Order.
As explained more fully below, plaintiffs want to depose three men who have no personal knowledge of the purported abuse at issue in this case. Two of the three have testified as corporate designees for WTNY in the past: Messrs. Allen Shuster and Gary Breaux. The third, Mr. Marvin Gene Smalley is 83 years old and has never been used by WTNY as a corporate designee. WTNY has not designated any of them in this lawsuit, and opposes their being deposed without some degree of effort by the plaintiffs to pursue less intrusive discovery. These three men do not have any unique knowledge regarding Plaintiffs’ purported deposition topics. Their knowledge about the topics Plaintiffs are interested in is at best equal to that of the person WTNY offers as a 30(b )( 6) witness in this case, and whom WTNY proposed as an alternative as part of its earnest meet-and-confer efforts: namely, Thomas Jefferson, Jr. WTNY’s designee is more readily available, younger and in better health, and is not an apex witness, unlike Messrs. Shuster and Breaux. Plaintiffs’ insistence on deposing Messrs. Shuster, Breaux and Smalley is unnecessarily cumulative, harassing, and designed to take multiple 30(b)(6) depositions in direct violation of the Court’s ruling on that issue. (Doc. 222).
Plaintiffs have yet to articulate why they need or want the depositions of these three men, let alone why they cannot be satisfied with the deposition of WTNY’s designated Rule 30(b)(6) witness.
