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The Perils of Filing "Emergency" Discovery Motions.

I don't know Cathrin Lorentz but she's apparently a model who has sued Sunshine Health Products over the use of her image to promote a teeth whitening product called "Sunshine Smiles." (The complaint is here).

Well seems her attorney filed an "emergency" motion for protective order to prevent Ms. Lorentz, who resides in London, from having to appear in Miami for her continued deposition.

Magistrate Judge Torres entered one of those fancy docket/text/order thingies that very same day (probably using a judicial iPhone app):

ORDER denying 102 "Emergency" Motion for Protective Order. A discovery related matter is almost never an emergency under the Court's Rules. This motion is no exception, as the Federal and Local Court Rules provide a party with more than sufficient guidance in these situations. Nevertheless, upon review of the motion on an emergency basis, the Court will for the most part Deny it. The two hour deposition was necessitated by a discovery violation on the Plaintiff's part. Thus, Plaintiff has little standing to complain that Defendant should not be entitled to take the deposition in the manner in which it sees fit, consistent with the Rules. Nevertheless, to the extent the Plaintiff is claiming that she has not gotten sufficient notice of the deposition to make it financially reasonable for her to travel to the United States for that purpose, the Court will grant temporary relief by allowing her to provide three proposed dates in May or June (even if necessary after the discovery cutoff date) in which it will be reasonable for her to travel to Florida for the deposition, absent an agreement of the parties otherwise. Defendant shall take the deposition on one of those three proposed dates. The Court would note for the Defendant's benefit that Defendant appears to be quite optimistic as to the amount of discovery that will be required prior to the discovery cutoff date in the case, which optimism would be more realistic with accommodation and agreement with Plaintiff, which would be in Defendant's own interest. But the Court will, absent such cooperation, enforce the Rules, which of course means that the Court will not compel any discovery after the current cutoff date that will be strictly enforced except as provided in this Order.

Emergency solved!

(Who's smiling now?)

Full post as published by South Florida Lawyers on May 17, 2010 (boomark / email).