EFTA00589613.pdf

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 3 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK 4 JANE DOE 43, CASE NO. 17 Civ 616 (.1CK) 5 Plaintiff, JOINT RULE 26(0 REPORT 6 VS. Complaint filed: January 26, 2017 7 JEFFREY EPSTEIN and LESLEY 8 GROFF, Hon. John G. Koeltl Defendants. 9 10 Plaintiff, Doe 43, and Defendants, Jeffrey Epstein and Lesley Groff, through 11 their respective undersigned counsel, and pursuant to Rule 26(f) and Rule 16(b) of 12 the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and this Court's Order, conferred on March 13 24, 2017 and file their Joint Rule 26(f) Report and Discovery Plan. 14 1. Joint rule 26(f) report 15 a. Rule 26(f)(2) - Synopsis, nature and basis of claims/defenses: 16 Plaintiff's Statement 17 Plaintiff alleges that between September 2006 and April 2007, Defendants 18 committed tortious violations of 18 USC §1595, by knowingly recruiting, enticing, 19 harboring, transporting, soliciting, threatening, forcing or coercing Plaintiff to 20 engage in commercial sex acts. Plaintiff contends that Defendants' actions were 21 undertaken with knowledge or reckless disregard for the fact that their threats of 22 force, fraud, coercion, and combinations of such means would be used, and were in 23 fact used, in order to cause Plaintiff to engage in commercial sex acts, in violation 24 of 18 USC §1591 through *1594 and are actionable civilly pursuant to 18 USC 25 §1595. 26 Defendant's Statement 27 28 EFTA00589613  1 b. Possibilities for Prompt Settleent: 3 The parties have conferred and agree there is not a likelihood for 4 prompt settlement. 5 c. Timing of Rule 26(a)(1) disclosures: 6 Pursuant to Rule 26(0(2), disclosures are due within 14 days of the 7 26(f) conference (April 7, 2017); however the parties have agreed to 8 exchange 26(a)(1) disclosures April 21, 2017. 9 d. Preservation of Evidence — 10 Plaintiff requests Defendants preserve all documentation or 11 electronically stored or transmitted information that in any way relates 12 to Plaintiff, or to Defendants' properties or aircraft or employees. 13 Rule 26(0(3) Discovery Plan & Experts 14 (A)The parties propose an extension of two weeks to exchange Rule 26(a) 15 disclosures. Initial disclosures will be made by April 21, 2017. 16 (B)Discovery will be taken on at least the following subjects: whether 17 Plaintiff communicated with Defendants and if so the extent and specifics 18 of that communication; whether and to what extent Plaintiff and 19 Defendants interacted as alleged in the complaint; Defendants purpose for 20 communicating or interacting with Plaintiff; the relationship, if any, 21 between Defendants and any others relevant to prove allegations in the 22 complaint; motive and common scheme or plan of Defendants and all 23 issues related to compensatory and punitive damages. Discovery should 24 be completed by September 22, 2017. There is no need for discovery to 25 be conducted in phases. 26 (C)The parties shall maintain and not alter or destroy any electronically 27 stored information, and shall disclose if any requested electronically 28 stored information has in the past been destroyed. 2 EFTA00589614  1 (D)There are no anticipated accommodations necessary regarding protections of privileged and trial preparation materials. As documents and 3 information are exchanged the parties will discuss any necessary 4 confidential materials in need of protection and attempt to reach 5 agreement before involving the Court. 6 (E)Due to the nature of the claim, the Plaintiff has proceeded anonymously 7 through a pseudonym. It is anticipated that other non-parties will be 8 called to testify about observations made regarding the activities in 9 question; to the extent those anticipated witnesses were themselves 10 alleged to have been victims similarly situated to Plaintiff, the parties 11 request the identities of those persons be maintained confidentially and 12 not publicly disclosed. 13 (F) There are no other requested orders to be issued at this time. 14 Respectfully submitted, 15 Dated: March 24, 2017 FARMER, JAFFE, WEISSING, 16 EDWARDS, FISTOS & LEHRMAN, P.L. 17 By /s/ Brad Edwards 18 Brad Edwards Attorney for Plaintiff 19 Jane Doe 43 20 21 Dated: STEPTOE & JOHNSON 22 By Lil 23 Michael Miller 24 Attorneys for Defendants JEFFREY EPSTEIN§ & LESLEY GROFF 25 26 27 28 3 EFTA00589615  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 EFTA00589616