Opinion
Civil Action No. 07-cv-02035-REB-KLM.
March 6, 2009
ORDER
This matter is before the Court on the portion of my Order dated December 3, 2009 [Docket No. 123] ("Order to Show Cause"), directing Plaintiffs to show cause why they should not be required to reimburse Defendant for a portion of its reasonable expenses incurred in litigating its Motion for Protective Order [Docket No. 109]. Pursuant to my authority prescribed by Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(c)(3) and 37(a)(5)(C),
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the Order to Show Cause is made ABSOLUTE. I find that Plaintiffs have failed to show that their position in relation to the discovery dispute was substantially justified. See Lang v. Intrado, Inc., No. 07-cv-00589-REB-MEH, 2007 WL 3407366 (D. Colo. Nov. 13, 2007) (unpublished decision). Nor have Plaintiffs articulated a persuasive argument that the imposition of monetary sanctions would be unjust. I agree with Defendant that it succeeded in its primary goal of narrowing an overly broad Rule 30(b)(6) deposition notice. I also find that Defendant, not Plaintiffs, was the overwhelming victor in relation to the discovery dispute considering that I limited the entire scope of the notice, restricted Plaintiffs' areas of inquiry, struck ten noticed topics in their entirety, and limited the deposition time to seven hours total. As noted in my Order to Show Cause, I have already found that Plaintiffs unreasonably failed to follow my explicit directions regarding the briefing of the discovery dispute. Order to Show Cause [#123] at 2-3. Finally, I give no credence to Plaintiffs' contention that Defendant failed to meaningfully confer prior to filing the Motion for Protective Order considering the detailed, thirteen-page letter sent by Defendant [Docket No. 109-3] in an effort to convince Plaintiffs to narrow their unreasonably broad deposition notice two weeks in advance of litigation on this issue.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Defendant shall submit an affidavit of attorney's fees and costs, if any, relating solely to the Motion for Protective Order, on or before March 20, 2009.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Plaintiffs may file an objection to the affidavit on or before April 3, 2009. No further briefing will be permitted.