gov.uscourts.nysd.447706.82.0_2.pdf

Case 1:15-cv-07433-LAP Document 82 Filed 04/07/16 Page 1 of 11 1 G3o5giuc phone conference 1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK 2 ------------------------------x 3 VIRGINIA L. GIUFFRE, 4 Plaintiff, 5 v. 15 Civ. 7433 (RWS) 6 GHISLAINE MAXWELL, 7 Defendant. 8 ------------------------------x 9 March 24, 2016 4:00 p.m. 10 Before: 11 HON. ROBERT W. SWEET, 12 District Judge 13 APPEARANCES 14 BOIES, SCHILLER & FLEXNER, LLP Attorneys for Plaintiff S 15 BY: SIGRID S. McCAWLEY 16 HADDON, MORGAN & FOREMAN Attorneys for Defendant 17 BY: JEFFREY S. PAGLIUCA LAURA A. MENNINGER 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300  Case 1:15-cv-07433-LAP Document 82 Filed 04/07/16 Page 2 of 11 2 G3o5giuA phone conference 1 (Case called) 2 THE DEPUTY CLERK: Counsel, can you please state your 3 name for the record for the court reporter? Thank you. 4 MS. McCAWLEY: Sigrid McCawley, counsel for the 5 plaintiff, Ms. Giuffre, from Boies, Schiller & Flexner. 6 MR. PAGLIUCA: Good afternoon, your Honor. Jeffrey 7 Pagliuca for the reporter, Ms. Maxwell, and we are present with 8 Laura Menninger. We are with the law firm of Haddon, Moore & 9 Foreman. 10 THE COURT: This is Judge Sweet. Let me just go 11 through a few preliminaries with you all. 12 First of all, this is being treated as it was 13 scheduled, that is as a motion with respect to discovery and 14 also the timing of the deposition and maybe there are some 15 other matters. 16 Because it was a motion it was, of course, set down 17 for noon today and in open court and so that prevails -- that 18 situation exists now. It is another way of saying we are in 19 the courtroom and there are members of the public and, for all 20 I know, members of the press present so that you all understand 21 that. 22 The reason we are on the phone is because defense 23 counsel had the good judgment to live in Colorado and because 24 Colorado has been blessed with frequent snow this season and 25 there was, when we last spoke, about the problem of defense SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300  Case 1:15-cv-07433-LAP Document 82 Filed 04/07/16 Page 3 of 11 3 G3o5giuA phone conference 1 counsel actually getting here. Now, our research indicates 2 that the Denver Airport is now open but obviously there were 3 some problems and in an excess of caution and at defense 4 counsel's request, I decided that it made more sense to try to 5 do this telephonically. 6 Let me just say about telephone motions and 7 conferences, they're terrible because I can't -- you cannot see 8 me frown and it is very hard for me to control counsel by 9 telephone. However, we will try to do that if it is necessary. 10 What I would ask -- fortunately because we have a 11 sexual differentiation between counsel it won't be necessary 12 for you to identify yourself as we speak and talk. 13 I take it that is sort of the preliminaries and I take 14 it that that raises no problems for anybody, correct? 15 MR. PAGLIUCA: Correct, your Honor. Not on behalf of 16 the defendant Ms. Maxwell. 17 THE COURT: Okay. That's fine. 18 Now, I have read your papers and I think I understand 19 the issues. Let me tell you what I think. I think that I am 20 going to deny the motion to compel answers to the plaintiff's 21 interrogatories except insofar as the plaintiff has indicated 22 that she is compliant or is going to comply. However, I 23 recognize that this method of making decisions is not quite as 24 desirable as it is if we had you physically present here. So, 25 I will grant leave to the defense, if there are particular SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300  Case 1:15-cv-07433-LAP Document 82 Filed 04/07/16 Page 4 of 11 4 G3o5giuA phone conference 1 interrogatories that you feel are critical to you within the 2 time frame which we will discuss in a few moments, I grant 3 leave for you to submit any additional materials and I think 4 that submission should be on the schedule that we have already 5 determined with respect to the privilege issues, that is, by 6 March 31st. 7 Now, as far as the schedule itself is concerned and 8 the deposition, you know, this Colorado gambit is not going to 9 work again because it is going to stop snowing sooner or later, 10 even in Colorado. So, hopefully we won't have this problem 11 again but, obviously, you can't be here tomorrow -- well, I 12 suppose you could, there is a red eye, but tomorrow is Good 13 Friday and one thing and another. 14 So, I am going to grant the request to adjourn the 15 deposition and part of the reason for that is it occurs to 16 me -- I don't know how the privilege rulings are going to work 17 out. Obviously, as you know, that submission will be in camera 18 and I don't know how they're going to work out, but it occurs 19 to me that it's possible that if some of the privilege rulings 20 go against the defense, then there might be additional 21 questions at deposition. So, it seems to me it is sensible to 22 put that over. 23 So, assuming that we can resolve the privilege matters 24 and anything else you want to bring up reasonably promptly, I 25 was thinking that we would set the deposition at a date that is SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300  Case 1:15-cv-07433-LAP Document 82 Filed 04/07/16 Page 5 of 11 5 G3o5giuA phone conference 1 agreeable to the parties sometime in the week of April 18th. 2 Now, having said all of that, I would be pleased to 3 hear any protests, suggestions, amendments, questions, whatever 4 strikes you as a result of my conclusions. 5 MR. PAGLIUCA: Your Honor, this is Jeff Pagliuca on 6 behalf of Ms. Maxwell. 7 I think preliminarily the Court should be aware that 8 yesterday counsel discussed, by e-mail, the protective order 9 issue relating to Ms. Maxwell's deposition and trying to find a 10 convenient date that would work for the parties and 11 Ms. Maxwell. We settled in on April 12th which is about six 12 days before your Honor's proposed date. We, the defendants, 13 are happy to consider a different date but I thought, in 14 fairness to plaintiff's counsel, I should alert the Court to 15 that series of events and I am not sure how that changes the 16 Court's analysis. I do agree and it was part of our papers 17 that we wanted to get the privilege issues resolved so that we 18 would not be subjecting ourselves, potentially, to a second 19 deposition. 20 So, I think your Honor's suggestion makes some sense 21 but we did agree to the 12th and I am not backing out of that 22 agreement, certainly subject to comments by plaintiff's counsel 23 and the Court. 24 THE COURT: I am getting to the age where somehow 25 sometimes I don't trust my memory but I thought at our last SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300  Case 1:15-cv-07433-LAP Document 82 Filed 04/07/16 Page 6 of 11 6 G3o5giuA phone conference 1 session the plaintiff agreed to your proposed protective order. 2 Am I wrong about that? 3 MR. PAGLIUCA: No, you are correct, your Honor. And I 4 am sorry because I am referring to the motion that was filed 5 captioned Request for Protective Order regarding Ms. Maxwell's 6 deposition going forward in which we asked for an adjournment. 7 So, I may be confusing your Honor with my use of the word 8 "protective order" which is from the rule. 9 THE COURT: Oh. 10 MR. PAGLIUCA: That's that it was of a request for 11 adjournment of that deposition. 12 THE COURT: So, what are you all going to confer about 13 on the 12th? You mean on the date of the deposition? 14 MR. PAGLIUCA: No, your Honor. We agreed to that as 15 the date so let me back up. 16 I think everyone recognized that we would not be able 17 to be there today given the airport situation here and the 18 backlog of flights and so the parties, by e-mail, agreed to 19 reschedule Ms. Maxwell's deposition for April 12th. 20 THE COURT: Oh, I see. Okay. All right. I 21 understand. 22 Well, look. If it is all right with you all I would 23 prefer the week of the 18th simply because that gives me a 24 little bit more see room on the privilege decision. 25 Is that possible? SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300  Case 1:15-cv-07433-LAP Document 82 Filed 04/07/16 Page 7 of 11 7 G3o5giuA phone conference 1 MR. PAGLIUCA: It is possible, your Honor, and that's 2 fine with counsel for Ms. Maxwell. 3 THE COURT: Well how about the plaintiff? 4 MS. McCAWLEY: Yes, your Honor. This is Sigrid 5 McCawley. 6 We are comfortable pushing it another week if that's 7 the Court's desire. The only caveat to that that I have is 8 that Ms. Menninger wanted to take my client's deposition that 9 week and I would ask the Court that of course since we were the 10 first to notice and we noticed back in February, that we be 11 able to have Ms. Maxwell's deposition that week and then choose 12 another week for my client's deposition. 13 THE COURT: I think that makes sense. I don't see any 14 problem with that. Do you all? 15 MR. PAGLIUCA: We agree with that, your Honor. That's 16 not a problem. 17 THE COURT: Okay. Anything else we should cover this 18 afternoon? 19 MR. PAGLIUCA: Your Honor, just in terms of 20 clarification in terms of what is before the Court today and 21 potentially before the Court in the next, I would say, two 22 weeks or so, the other motion that was filed was the motion to 23 compel responses pursuant to Rule 26A. We have not cued up yet 24 any issue related to the interrogatories or the requests for 25 production of documents because counsel conferred about that SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300  Case 1:15-cv-07433-LAP Document 82 Filed 04/07/16 Page 8 of 11 8 G3o5giuA phone conference 1 earlier this week on Monday. There was a supplemental 2 production on, I believe, Tuesday, and so we are in the process 3 of reviewing the supplemental response and the production and 4 so I think any issues related to interrogatories or requests 5 for production of documents pursuant to Rules 33 and Rule 34 6 are not before the Court at this time. 7 THE COURT: Well, that's fine. I think it is great if 8 you all can resolve those without confusing me. So, I think 9 that's fine. And we will just consider that those motions are 10 withdrawn at this point and then, if necessary, they can be 11 renewed at a later time. Hopefully it won't be necessary. 12 Anything else? 13 MR. PAGLIUCA: No. That's fine with counsel for the 14 defendant, your Honor. 15 THE COURT: Okay. 16 One other thought that has occurred to me. These are 17 two excellent and prominent law firms and history teaches that 18 good lawyers, like the ones in this case, tend to get 19 committed -- I mean to trials, not to institutions. 20 MR. PAGLIUCA: I am looking at a couple of 21 institutions right now, your Honor. 22 THE COURT: Okay, but it occurs to me we have our 23 schedule which I think is, as far as I know, still makes sense 24 and is the one that we entered back in October and I think that 25 still makes sense, but it does seem to me that it would also SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300  Case 1:15-cv-07433-LAP Document 82 Filed 04/07/16 Page 9 of 11 9 G3o5giuA phone conference 1 make sense perhaps to book a time when counsel would be 2 committed so that we don't have the problem of somebody popping 3 up and saying, well, I have got another case with Judge 4 so-and-so. 5 I was thinking late September early October, how does 6 that sound to you all? 7 MR. PAGLIUCA: Your Honor, this is Ms. Maxwell's 8 counsel. 9 I think this may be a premature discussion, your 10 Honor, for two reasons. The first is we have not yet gone 11 through the disclosures that we just received with the detail 12 that we would like to. I believe, though, having done a fairly 13 quick review of the documents produced that it is unlikely, in 14 my opinion, that fact discovery will be completed by July 1. 15 And I say that, your Honor, because at sort of the tip of the 16 iceberg here is that there are a number of witnesses that 17 appear to be living in other countries and we are going to need 18 to discuss how we are going to be able to conduct discovery 19 related to those witnesses. 20 There are a lot of witnesses in this case and given 21 the recent document production, I think it is going to take 22 some time to complete first the fact discovery and then have 23 expert discovery completed. So, my guess, your Honor, is that 24 we are probably looking at realistically pushing discovery in 25 this case until October, I would say, and then setting a trial SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300  Case 1:15-cv-07433-LAP Document 82 Filed 04/07/16 Page 10 of 11 10 G3o5giuA phone conference 1 date after that. That's my best guess at this point. 2 THE COURT: What's the plaintiff's view of that? 3 MS. McCAWLEY: Your Honor, this is Sigrid McCawley for 4 the plaintiff. 5 We have been obviously trying to push discovery 6 forward. We have served our initial requests for production 7 back in October of this year and, again, while the Court 8 granted our motion to compel in part last week, we haven't 9 received any more documents. We are trying to move discovery 10 forward, as you know, as quickly as we can. We hoped to be 11 done by July, that is our goal. We would like to go to trial 12 in late September or early October. 13 THE COURT: Well, let's do this. Let's set a trial 14 date recognizing that it's not in stone and it certainly can 15 be -- can be and may well be pushed back. But, let's keep the 16 present schedule. It may be purely hopeful. 17 By the way, if we change it and you all do not agree 18 as to the change, just let me say if somebody comes forward and 19 presumably it would be the defense but I don't know, it could 20 also be the plaintiff, but if somebody comes forward with a 21 good faith showing as to an effort to comply with the schedule 22 and an inability because of Hague Convention problems or other 23 problems or whatever, we can change it but just so that nobody 24 gets ahead of us in terms of your commitments, how about a 25 tentative trial date of October 17th and hold that time? Of SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300  Case 1:15-cv-07433-LAP Document 82 Filed 04/07/16 Page 11 of 11 11 G3o5giuA phone conference 1 course we don't know at this juncture how long the trial is but 2 I am guessing a week, somewhere in the area of a week. And if 3 counsel would just hold that time until it's changed, if it is 4 changed, I would be grateful. And then I won't be faced with 5 the problem of your commitment somewhere else. 6 How does that sound? 7 MS. McCAWLEY: This is Sigrid McCawley for the 8 plaintiff, your Honor. 9 That sounds great. Thank you. 10 THE COURT: Okay. All right. Anything else we should 11 try to deal with this afternoon? 12 MR. PAGLIUCA: No. I think we are fine, your Honor. 13 THE COURT: Okay, we are all set? 14 MS. McCAWLEY: Thank you, your Honor. 15 THE COURT: Well, you have the court reporter, it is 16 Pamela Utter, and I am sure you will want to get her 17 contribution to all of this. 18 Okay. Thanks a lot. I appreciate your courtesy and 19 cooperation and I look forward to getting whatever you want to 20 give me. 21 Thank you. 22 MS. McCAWLEY: Thank you. 23 MR. PAGLIUCA: Have a good afternoon, your Honor. 24 THE COURT: Okay. Bye-bye. 25 o0o SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300