33rd / 424th District Courts

The following example will be used as reference for future discovery disputes. :-)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA ORLANDO DIVISION

AVISTA MANAGEMENT, INC., d/b/a Avista Plex, Inc.,

Plaintiff,
-vs-
WAUSAU UNDERWRITERS INSURANCE COMPANY,
Defendant.

______________________________________

ORDER

This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiff's Motion to designate location of a Rule 30(b)(6) deposition (Doc. 105). Upon consideration of the Motion - the latest in a series of Gordian knots that the parties have been unable to untangle without enlisting the assistance of the federal courts - it is

ORDERED that said Motion is DENIED. Instead, the Court will fashion a new form of alternative dispute resolution, to wit: at 4:00 P.M. on Friday, June 30, 2006, counsel shall convene at a neutral site agreeable to both parties. If counsel cannot agree on a neutral site, they shall meet on the front steps of the Sam M. Gibbons U.S. Courthouse, 801 North Florida Ave., Tampa, Florida 33602. Each lawyer shall be entitled to be accompanied by one paralegal who shall act as an attendant and witness. At that time and location, counsel shall engage in one (1) game of "rock, paper, scissors." The winner of this engagement shall be entitled to select the location for the 30(b)(6) deposition to be held somewhere in Hillsborough County during the period July 11-12, 2006. If either party disputes the outcome of this engagement, an appeal may be filed and a hearing will be held at 8:30 A.M. on Friday, July 7, 2006 before the undersigned in Courtroom 3, George C. Young United States Courthouse an
d Federal Building, 80 North Hughey Avenue, Orlando, Florida 32801.

DONE and ORDERED in Chambers, Orlando, Florida on June 6, 2006.

This was sent to me by a former roommate (circa 1968 or so) aboard the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk. He included the following note:

Received this purportedly real court order from a semi-reliable source with the explanation that it was handed down on June 6 after two attorneys could not adequately meet and confer on the location of a deposition. Apparently the order was made by a Judge Gregory A. Presnell and directed to counsel who have offices in the same building, four floors apart from one another.

An interesting note about Dale, the forwarder. He absolutely could not stand his department head in the Integrated Operational Intelligence Center and wrote his detailer at the Bureau of Personnel (that's the dude who holds your life in his hands as far as cutting orders) and said essentially, "get me off this ship, I'll take anything." Well, he survived his swift boat command and studied for the LSAT while still in 'Nam, went to law school and wound up on California's equivalent of our District Court. He recently retired after 20 years on that bench and we've only recently re-located one another. An interesting, and fine fellow.