Magistrate Judge H. Kenneth Schroeder
Blue Zenith sought a declaration that Rohde’s Aug. 5, 2012, termination was for cause, relieving it of contractual liability on $300,000 in salary and benefits. Asserting counterclaims, Rohde joined Blue Zenith’s predecessor Campus Labs LLC and other third party defendants, and alleged fraudulent conveyance of Campus Labs’ assets to Higher One Holdings Inc. so as to render Campus Labs judgment proof. The court granted Rohde’s motion to compel the Campus Labs counterclaim defendants to produce all non-privileged documents responsive to a March 14 request for 465,000 pieces of electronically stored information (ESI). The court found the counterclaim defendants’ response to Rohde’s demand “lackadaisical,” and deemed their refusal to extend the response deadline by more than three days was an “astonishing lack of professional courtesy.” Nor was there a substantial justification for failing to disclose any documents in the interim between the parties’ May 1 agreement to search terms and the May 20 filing of Rohde’s motion to compel—let alone until June 10, when the third party defendants “could begin reviewing ESI.” Nor did the third party defendants raise issue of privilege or concerns over the confidentiality of documents.
