Magistrate Judge Henry Pitman
Building supply managers and contractors use the parties’ news about construction projects to identify business sources and to prepare bids. Reed Construction Data Inc. (RCDI) charges a subscription fee and a "set charge" based on the number of individuals having access to its information. RCDI’s repeatedly amended suit asserted McGraw-Hill’s (MGH) use of fictitious subscribers who passed on information which MGH used to create service comparisons to divert customers from RCDI. Resolving a dispute over RCDI’s allegedly untimely failure to identify factual and legal bases for its claim seeking some $50 million in damages the court, applying the four considerations outlined in Kam Hing Ents. v. Wal-Mart Stores, precluded evidence as to 26 newly claimed lost customers and prospects, and also RCDI’s claim for lost seat charges. The $3.1 million in damages therefrom was less than 6 percent of damages sought and their preclusion would not materially alter the magnitude of damages claimed. Further, to permit RCDI’s purported amendments would substantially prejudice MGH, which would need to perform a new review of their own documents to locate potentially relevant documents and revise expert reports.
