October 20, 2020
London Fischer Defeats Motion to Quash Deposition Subpoena in Declaratory Judgment Action
London Fischer, LLP recently obtained a favorable ruling for its client Ironshore Specialty Insurance Company (“Ironshore”) on an important discovery-related issue in a declaratory judgment action pending in New York state court. The declaratory judgment action involves a dispute over coverage for an underlying construction-related personal injury action under an insurance policy issued to a subcontractor (“Subcontractor”). The defendants in the declaratory judgment action include the general contractor and site owner (“Defendants”).
Our firm, on behalf of plaintiff Ironshore, served a deposition subpoena on a non-party fact witness, a former employee of the Subcontractor (“Witness”). The Defendants moved to quash the subpoena and for a protective order, contending that Ironshore is not entitled to depose the Witness in the declaratory judgment action because (i) the Witness had already been deposed by the Defendants in the underlying action and (ii) counsel assigned by Ironshore to defend the Subcontractor in the underlying action attended the deposition.
In opposition, we argued that Ironshore is entitled to depose the Witness in the declaratory judgment action because (i) Ironshore was not a party to the underlying action and did not participate in the prior deposition and (ii) counsel assigned by Ironshore to defend the Subcontractor in the underlying action represented the Subcontractor only, not Ironshore. The Court agreed and held that Ironshore is entitled to depose the Witness in the declaratory judgment action. See, Ironshore Specialty Ins. Co. v. Red Hook Const. Group II, LLC, No. 652378/2019, 2020 WL 6114708 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. Oct. 16, 2020).
Plaintiff Ironshore was represented by our firm’s Neal M. Glazer (nglazer@londonfischer.com) and Jonathan L. Kranz (jkranz@londonfischer.com).
