Opinion
23-CV-79-ABJ
09-09-2024
BCB CHEYENNE LLC d/b/a/ BISON BLOCKCHAIN, a Wyoming limited liability company, Plaintiff, v. MINEONE WYOMING DATA CENTER, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company; MINEONE PARTNERS LLC, a Delaware limited liability company; TERRA CRYPTO INC., a Delaware corporation; BIT ORIGIN, LTD, a Cayman Islands company; SONICHASH LLC, a Delaware limited liability company; BITMAIN TECHNOLOGIES GEORGIA LIMITED, a Georgia corporation; and JOHN DOES 1-18, related persons and companies who control or direct some or all of the named Defendants, Defendants.
ORDER ON INFORMAL DISCOVERY CONFERENCE AND EXTENSION OF DEPOSITION DEADLINE
Stephanie A. Hambrick, United States Magistrate Judge
On September 9, 2024, the Court held an Informal Discovery Conference by Zoom in the above-captioned case before the Honorable Stephanie A. Hambrick, United States Magistrate Judge for the District of Wyoming, for the purpose of facilitating deposition dates for all parties. Plaintiff's counsel, Patrick J. Murphy, participated representing BCB. Paula Colbath, Kari Hartman and David A. Forrest participated on behalf of Defendants MineOne Wyoming, MineOne Partners, and Terra Crypto (collectively, “MineOne”); Marc Gottlieb and Meggan Hathaway appeared for Defendants Bit Origin and SonicHash; and Marc Feinstein, Khale Lenhart and Kate Stutz, participated representing BitMain Technologies Georgia (“Bitmain”).
Prior to the conference, the parties met and conferred on August 29, 2024. In that conferral, MineOne agreed to make available Dr. Erick Rengifo on September 10, 2024, via Zoom; Bitmain agreed to make available expert witness, Ken Hayward, via Zoom on September 13, 2024; and BCB agreed to make its expert available, Patrick Gahan, on September 17, 2024, via Zoom. The Court held this discovery conference to resolve the remaining disputed deposition dates.
After hearing all parties regarding the scheduling of depositions, the Court facilitated the following agreements:
1. The parties agreed to not set a deposition date at this time for BCB's witness, Michael Murphy.
2. BCB's witness, Emory Patterson, will be made available for deposition on September 17, 2024, via Zoom.
3. MineOne's expert, Dr. Erick Rengifo, will be made available for deposition on September 12, 2024, via Zoom.
In addition to the above agreements, the Court HEREBY ORDERS:
1. An extension of the deadline for depositions to September 30, 2024;
2. MineOne's counsel to produce availability dates for the depositions of BCB's witnesses, Neil Phippen, Sean Murphy, and Steven Randall;
3. MineOne's counsel to produce availability dates for the depositions of Haku Du and Dr. Jiaming Li as soon as possible;
4. Should the parties fail to reach an agreed-upon date between September 18 to September 30, 2024, to depose experts, Ken Haywood and Patrick Gahan, the originally scheduled dates of depositions, September 13, 2024, and September 17, 2024, respectively, control;
5. And that counsel - not individual agents, officers, or the like of the parties - are the only participants in any and all future meets and confers.