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CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar

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Sgt_G said:
Pretty sure a subpoena trumps a non-disclosure agreement. And the NDA can't force him to delete e-mails and such. Now, I'm on record up-topic stating that I believe he had an legal/ethical responsibility to return any and all databases with donor PII (personal identification information) and then delete the same from his personal computer storage devices. But other than that? Nope. He can keep or delete all e-mails as he sees fit. I've signed NDAs before, and there was nothing in any of them about purging my personal systems after I left. Unless Axanar had rules against using personal e-mail and such for official business while he was there, Axanar has no case to sue. And it's doubtful that they had such rules given how much we know they used Facebook and Twitter for exchanging messages among the staff.
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My experience with NDAs is that you must return or destroy all materials related to company business upon departure. It wouldn't depend what system those materials are on; for example, if I did some work on my private computer, or logged into company email with my computer, I couldn't say the materials remaining on my computer are outside the scope of the NDA.
 
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Having missed a day or so on here and Facebook, I just caught up with most of the postings over there and one thing that struck me is something that Terry wrote...........no matter whether Ranahan screws him directly, or leads him down a crooked path, one thing that she/LFIM won't be able to defend against are the supposed 'smoking gun documents' (or information that's in them) in his possession.

Now again, I haven't kept up as closely as I should've, but if the above is true, then the only way they can keep him from blowing up LFIM's defense is to prevent those docs/information in them from being presented.

Does any of this make sense, or am I missing something??
 
RedForman said:
Having missed a day or so on here and Facebook, I just caught up with most of the postings over there and one thing that struck me is something that Terry wrote...........no matter whether Ranahan screws him directly, or leads him down a crooked path, one thing that she/LFIM won't be able to defend against are the supposed 'smoking gun documents' (or information that's in them) in his possession.

Now again, I haven't kept up as closely as I should've, but if the above is true, then the only way they can keep him from blowing up LFIM's defense is to prevent those docs/information in them from being presented.

Does any of this make sense, or am I missing something??
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And this once again makes me scratch my head over Ranahan offering to represent Terry pro bono. If he has the 'smoking gun', then that is conflict of interest.
 
Yes, I really can't get my head around this offer.

BTW, in regards to that ill fitting uniform Peters is wearing, what is it from? I'm not recognizing it from Trek.
 
CaptGrumpy said:
And this once again makes me scratch my head over Ranahan offering to represent Terry pro bono. If he has the 'smoking gun', then that is conflict of interest.
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Indeed - even if she did go snooping around, I'm not sure there's any way she could craft an effective defense (at least one that would hold water). I got this picture of Klausner rolling his eyes and/or calling her into his chambers for a tongue lashing.

dmac said:
Probably from some Twerking with Miley contest
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Couldn't resist :rommie:

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By representing Terry, W&S will see in advance what is being given to L&L. Seems like this would give W&S a chance to push Alec into a hypothetical on the table settlement if deposition questioning around the documents would weaken their negotiating position to splat. It also might give them the chance to craft strategically targeted objections to deposition questions by L&L, objections which guard just the most damning details, rather than being broadly reactive and then losing in front of a judge. Additionally, they may gain time to craft their cross exam to weaken the worst of the disclosures.
 
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muCephi said:
By representing Terry, W&S will see in advance what is being given to L&L. Seems like this would give W&S a chance to push Alec into a hypothetical on the table settlement if deposition questioning around the documents would weaken their negotiating position to splat. It also might give them the chance to craft strategically targeted objections to deposition questions by L&L, objections which guard just the most damning details, rather than being broadly reactive and then losing in front of a judge. Additionally, they may gain time to craft their cross exam to weaken the worst of the disclosures.
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Actually, she (Erin Ranahan) wouldn't see anything in advance; she'll see it at the deposition. What she can do as his legal representation is try to object to anything/everything as Terry attempts to hand it over - as well as any incriminating (for Axanar) questions an L&L lawyer asks..
 
Noname Given said:
Actually, she (Erin Ranahan) wouldn't see anything in advance; she'll see it at the deposition. What she can do as his legal representation is try to object to anything/everything as Terry attempts to hand it over - as well as any incriminating (for Axanar) questions an L&L lawyer asks..
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Oh, that's interesting, I stand corrected if I misunderstood. So if W&S represents Terry, they don't write the response to L&L for the document inquiries? When I have seen someone deposed in addition to responding to discovery document demands, their law firm wrote the response and supplied the documents, the documents were not part of the deposition itself. And the law firm objected to a lot of the deposition demands as overbroad.

Hm, speaking of which, if W&S is Terry's law firm, might they push the idea of refusing to return documents on various bases such as the demand being overbroad? That might ultimately be to the advantage of Axanar. W&S would see the documents and prevent L&L from seeing them without more of a fight, perhaps prevent L&L from seeing the key docs until after the deposition. All they would have to do is talk Terry into it. Is that incorrect?
 
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Misc info:

In the last 4*24 hours, the hit count on this thread has gone from 1,110,518 to 1,117,330, or 6,812. /4 = 1, 703 hits/day. There seem to be about 10-20 posters a day. If each of those active posters hit the thread an average of (wild guess) 50 times (frequent readers and authors of multiple posts with lots of reedit refreshes), then that would deduct on the upper side about 1000 hits/day, leaving about 703 hits/day by lurkers. If those folks read about 5 pages on average to catch up, that's still maybe 100 lurkers.

Whatever the exact count, clearly, *some*one is reading.

And the thread is *very, very* slow and quiet at the moment.
 
Noname Given said:
That said ALL the donor funds are going to pay rent on his Studio location - with it's new carpet, offices and Propworx storage <--- Basically he's paying the highest rent for office space because the 'studio' remains unused; but hey in his eyes that's what the donors agreed to.
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Whatever happened to the mysterious investors that were going to take responsibility for the studio in exchange for cash? Did that fall through? Haven't seen anything about it in a while...
 
muCephi said:
Misc info:

In the last 4*24 hours, the hit count on this thread has gone from 1,110,518 to 1,117,330, or 6,812. /4 = 1, 703 hits/day. There seem to be about 10-20 posters a day. If each of those active posters hit the thread an average of (wild guess) 50 times (frequent readers and authors of multiple posts with lots of reedit refreshes), then that would deduct on the upper side about 1000 hits/day, leaving about 703 hits/day by lurkers. If those folks read about 5 pages on average to catch up, that's still maybe 100 lurkers.

Whatever the exact count, clearly, *some*one is reading.

And the thread is *very, very* slow and quiet at the moment.
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Don't have anything constructive to add. Just watching with interest...
 
carlosp said:
I believe it can all happen at once. The attorney who ordered the deposition, in this case Loeb, begins direct examination of the person being deposed (the deponent). After the direct examination, other attorneys in attendance, in this case Ranahan from Winston, have an opportunity to cross-examine. The first attorney may ask more questions at the end, in re-direct, which may be followed by re-cross.

I think each side, under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, can depose a maximum of 10 witnesses during discovery. If the defense plans on calling that many, it's in their interest to cross-examine at a deposition called by the plaintiffs rather than use up one of their 10 slots to depose the same witness a second time. .......................
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Thanks

jespah said:
........................
Plaintiff temporarily loses her hair when she is given a permanent wave in a salon. She sues the salon. The salon impleads as a third party defendant my client, the manufacturer (with me so far?).

Salon's lawyer asks a ton of questions of the plaintiff. There are five people in the room. Me, plaintiff, her lawyer, the salon's lawyer, and the court reporter. Defendant salon's questioning goes into liability but also damages, so they ask about doctor's treatments and bills, any hospital stays, etc. If my client had been a direct defendant (or if I was handling the salon), I would have asked those questions as well. In any event, it's not a super-serious injury. The main injury is social humiliation, you know, good old emotional distress. Defense's questioning takes maybe 2 hours, something like that. Totally typical for such things. Defense says they'e done and now it's my turn.

I ask only one question: Did anyone ever tell you which permanent wave product was used on your hair?

Plaintiff says no.

The salon's rep is then deposed. So now it's six people in the room because the plaintiff has the right to be there. Defense could have been there but they chose not to. Plaintiff's lawyer (they are named first, so they go first) asks about methodology, that sort of thing. It all takes maybe 45 minutes or so.

I then get to go. I again ask exactly one question: Do you use specific permanent wave solutions or does the salon just mix up a batch at the start of the day?

Defendant's rep says we mix up a big batch at the start of the day.

Now my client gets to be deposed. Again, the plaintiff stays although the defendant's rep has gone back to work and is off the premises. Defendant's lawyer questions my client first because they have the direct claim. Then plaintiff's lawyer goes (his claim is more indirect). They both ask about methodology. They both ask about sales records to this particular salon.

I take notes on the things requested so I can fulfill them or decide to object to them. I object to anything that is irrelevant (fun fact: in New York, you can and often do stipulate to allow no objections except those as to relevancy. So almost anything goes if it can be tied back to the case). This takes another 45 or so minutes.

We finish up and defendant's counsel leaves. I ask plaintiff's counsel if he will be directly claiming against my client. He says he doesn't think so, asks me how I've been (you get to know your adversaries as you often see the same people a lot).

I go back to the office and talk things over with John, the senior partner in charge of product liability claims, and Dave, the managing partner.

I get my client's sales records. There are no records of selling directly to this particular salon.

I move for summary judgment. I win.
.......................
we go through a fairly elaborate little dance and it's all choreographed based upon who is named first. If there is redirect, it's often short.
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What will happen here? Probably AP will be questioned first, by L & L's lawyer and then by his own counsel if they see fit.

Note: he can't be questioned by the other counsel in the room. Why? Because they have no claim against him.
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Thanks.

Both your posts make the picture of what's physically happening in the deposition quite a bit clearer now.
 
I think the deposition better come down to "Who Called the Shots" If Alec starts to sound as if he was only making this $10 -$30 grand short production and all of a sudden people starting showing up, posting fund raisers, ordering VFX work, creating fulfillment centers, leasing buildings stitching patches and selling coffee...... all beyond his control. I don't know, maybe someone will buy it. Poor Alec tried to clamp down on it but all those people simply got out of control, acted on their own.
I think there is even a podcast where Graham said something to the effect "at first there was money to do whatever, then Alec started clamping down on the spending"
You know this Terry, it could be claimed was brought in from some other guy, Alec thought was just going to create some mailing labels.
Honestly, I think a first year bar lawyer could make poor little Alec the victim here,. spread the guilt a mile wide and a millimeter thin. There are a few data points along the way that suggest Alec lost control of this thing right out of the gates, if you read them in that context.
Okay the next thing is how much does W&S even care about getting Alec off.He might only be a pawn in the scheme of things. They are the law firm for the company that someday is going to own Paramount. Do you think Wanda cares about busting up Paramount or devaluing them? All that's stopped them this round was a 93 year old man. It's not the company they want, in business it's the space Paramount occupies that they are after. Yeah, if I was W&S, I'd be in there, helping Terry remember the right stuff as well.
That's all the conspiracy theories I have for one night...lol
 
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