Integrative Health Institute PLLC et al v. Schaffner et al, No. 2:2020cv01471 - Document 177 (W.D. Wash. 2022)

Court Description: ORDER granting in part and denying in part Defendants' 165 and 166 Motions to Compel; granting in part and denying in part Plaintiffs' 167 Motion to Compel. Supplemental information due by 4/22/2022. The Court GRANTS Defendant s leave to file a motion to reopen the deposition of Dr. Klinghardt. Defendant's Motion will be heard on a second Friday briefing schedule (pursuant to Local Civil Rule 7(d)(2)) and should be noted for the Courts consideration on 4/29/2022. Signed by Hon. Michelle L. Peterson. (SR)

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Integrative Health Institute PLLC et al v. Schaffner et al Doc. 177 1 2 3 4 5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE 6 7 8 INTEGRATIVE HEALTH INSTITUTE PLLC, et al., 9 Case No. C20-1471-RAJ-MLP Plaintiffs, ORDER 10 v. 11 CHRISTINE SCHAFFNER, et al., 12 Defendants. 13 14 This matter comes before the Court on the parties’ discovery motions as identified in the 15 parties’ letters to the Court on April 1, 2022 and April 4, 2022. 1 (Dkt. ## 165-167.) For the 16 reasons previously stated on the record by the Court at the April 8, 2022 hearing (dkt. # 176), the 17 Court provides the following summary of its rulings: 18 19 (1) Defendants’ Motions to Compel (dkt. ## 165-166) are GRANTED in part, and DENIED in part, as follows: 20 21 22 23 1 This Court previously directed that the parties, prior to filing any additional discovery motions, draft a letter documenting any requests for discovery motions. (Dkt. # 140 at 6.) ORDER - 1 Dockets.Justia.com 1 a. Defendants’ Motion to Compel Interrogatories Nos. 6 and 9 in Dr. 2 Christine Schaffner’s (“Dr. Schaffner”) First Discovery Requests to 3 Sophia Health Institute (“SHI”) are GRANTED: i. 4 Plaintiffs must supplement their response to Interrogatory No. 6 by 5 April 22, 2022, with a list of patient names that includes the full 6 name of the patients, without redaction, subject to the protective 7 order previously entered in this matter (see dkt. # 68). ii. 8 Plaintiffs must supplement their response to Interrogatory No. 9 by April 22, 2022, with more detail regarding the generalized 9 10 categories of training, educational materials, treatment types and 11 business, and financial accounting previously provided to 12 Defendants. b. 13 Defendants’ Motion to Compel Interrogatory No. 11 in Dr. Schaffner’s First Discovery Requests to SHI is DENIED. 14 c. 15 Defendants’ Motion to Compel Interrogatories Nos. 14, 16, and 18 in Dr. 16 Schaffner’s Second Discovery Requests to Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt (“Dr. 17 Klinghardt”) are GRANTED. Plaintiffs must supplement their response to 18 reflect Dr. Klinghardt’s answers from the April 8, 2022 hearing by April 19 22, 2022. d. 20 Defendants’ Motion to Compel Interrogatories Nos. 15 and 20 in Dr. 21 Schaffner’s Second Discovery Requests to Dr. Klinghardt are GRANTED. 22 Plaintiffs must supplement their response to include more specificity and 23 ORDER - 2 1 detail concerning the trade secrets, intellectual property, and trademarks 2 by April 22, 2022. 3 e. Defendants’ Motion to Compel Interrogatory No. 22 in Dr. Schaffner’s Second Discovery Requests to Dr. Klinghardt is DENIED. 4 f. 5 Defendants’ Motion to Compel Interrogatory No. 23 in Dr. Schaffner’s 6 Second Discovery Requests to Dr. Klinghardt is DENIED as moot. 7 However, Plaintiffs will supplement to correct the typographical error by 8 April 22, 2022. g. 9 Defendants’ Motion to Compel Request for Production No. 20 in Dr. 10 Schaffner’s Second Discovery Requests to Dr. Klinghardt is GRANTED 11 in part and DENIED in part. Plaintiffs must supplement Interrogatory No. 12 18 to reflect Dr. Klinghardt’s answers from the April 8, 2022 hearing by 13 April 22, 2022. Defendant’s Motion to Compel Request for Production 14 No. 20 is otherwise DENIED. h. 15 Defendants’ Motion to Reopen the Deposition of Daniela Deiosso is 16 GRANTED. Defendants must properly subpoena Ms. Deiosso to proceed 17 with the deposition. i. 18 The Court GRANTS Defendants leave to file a motion to reopen the 19 deposition of Dr. Klinghardt. Defendant’s Motion will be heard on a 20 second Friday briefing schedule (pursuant to Local Civil Rule 7(d)(2)) and 21 should be noted for the Court’s consideration on April 29, 2022. 22 23 ORDER - 3 1 j. Defendants’ Motion to Compel Request for Production No. 1 to SHI is 2 GRANTED. Plaintiffs must supplement their production of 3 communications with former SHI employees by April 22, 2022. k. 4 Dr. Klinghardt’s Emails & Text Messages: At the April 8, 2022 5 hearing, Dr. Klinghardt represented that he has not been in possession of 6 his phone since on or about March 2021 because it was traded in, or 7 otherwise surrendered, to an Apple store. As a result, the Court finds 8 that there is nothing that can be done at this time on Defendants’ 9 requests regarding Dr. Klinghardt’s previous phone. Nevertheless, the 10 Court ORDERS that Dr. Klinghardt’s new and/or current phone’s emails 11 and text messages be searched for responsive communications and 12 documentation pursuant to the ESI Agreement (dkt. # 164) and that this 13 search be confirmed by his counsel. l. 14 Defendants’ Motion to Compel Missing Documentation Identified in 15 SHI’s Fed. R. Civ. P. 30(b)(6) Deposition is GRANTED in part, and 16 DENIED in part, as follows: i. 17 Defendants’ Motion to Compel is GRANTED with respect to any 18 notes from meetings between Dr. Schaffner and Dr. Klinghardt. 19 Plaintiffs are directed to provide this documentation to Defendants 20 by April 22, 2022. ii. 21 Defendants’ Motion to Compel is DENIED with respect to Kristin Gotch’s LinkedIn page and any documents reflecting that Dr. 22 23 ORDER - 4 1 Schaffner directed people to solicit practitioners away from SHI 2 and/or Dr. Klinghardt. 3 4 (2) Plaintiffs’ Motions to Compel (dkt. # 167) are GRANTED in part and DENIED in part as follows: a. 5 Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel re: Subpoena to Immanence Ipothecary is 6 GRANTED. Defendants must supplement production to include the B&O 7 tax returns by April 22, 2022. Defendants will further provide production 8 of marketing and advertising materials of products sold on Immanence’s 9 website that are similar to SHI products upon receipt of a list of such products from Plaintiffs. 10 b. 11 Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel re: Dr. Klinghardt’s Second Set of Requests for Production to Dr. Schaffner is DENIED as moot. 12 c. 13 Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel re: Dr. Klinghardt’s Third Set of Requests 14 for Production is DENIED. Ms. Faryabi and Ms. Demmon are directed to 15 meet and confer, and to come to an agreement over the missed search 16 terms. See LCR 26(f)(1)(J) and (f)(3). d. 17 Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel re: SHI’s Request for Production to Daniel 18 Schaffner is DEFERRED at this time. Ms. Faryabi and Mr. Olson are 19 directed to meet and confer, and to come to an agreement over the search 20 terms for Mr. Schaffner’s emails. See LCR 26(f)(1)(J) and (f)(3). The 21 Court will reserve ruling on this motion until this search has been 22 completed. 23 ORDER - 5 1 Dated this 11th day of April, 2022. A 2 3 MICHELLE L. PETERSON United States Magistrate Judge 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 ORDER - 6

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