Important Tip for Deponents: Don't Look at Anything.

Halmos Note Order

More fun and games in the never-ending, endlessly entertaining Pete Halmos yacht insurance dispute, now hitting docket entry HOLY CRAP I CAN'T BELIEVE THE NUMBER OF DOCKET ENTRIES:

This matter is before this Court sua sponte. The Court was contacted regarding an issue in a continuing deposition of Mr. Halmos taking place on January 26, 2011. The issue had to do with a refusal on the part of plaintiff( s) to produce a document looked at by Mr. Halmos during the course of that deposition (see 6 et. al of the deposition).

This Court instructed plaintiffs to produce that document for the Court to review in camera and to produce the transcript of the pertinent part of the deposition. This was done. The Court has now reviewed both and finds there is nothing of evidentiary value, or discovery value in the document withheld, it's not really a summary, and at best it might be said to be some sort of index to other documents ... and it takes a little stretching to say that.

Ok, let's break this down.

First off, what the hail does any of this mean?

How can it be possible Mr. Halmos is still being deposed this late in the case -- I thought the matter was set for trial in a few weeks.

Then there's the issue of the document -- unless there's a predicate laid in the deposition (such as refreshing memory or some such), what would be the possible basis to request the production of a document looked at by a deponent, or even to order that it be produced for in camera review?

Then you got to love Judge Brown's description of the document -- it does take a little stretching (toe-tapping?) to say that!