Magistrate Judge Denies Muttontown’s Motion to Stay Discovery vs. AT&T
U.S. Magistrate Judge Lee Dunst for Eastern New York in Central Islip denied the Feb. 20 letter motion from Muttontown, New York, to stay discovery in its cell tower dispute with AT&T, pending a decision from U.S. District Judge Joanna…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
Seybold on the village’s motion to dismiss. Forcing municipal clients to spend taxpayer money for claims “that more than likely will be dismissed would not be appropriate,” said the village of its rationale for a discovery stay (see 2302210056). AT&T disagreed, saying its claims aren’t more than likely to be dismissed, “and the pending motion to dismiss does not justify a stay of discovery.” The court concludes that a stay on all discovery isn’t “warranted at this time,” said Dunst’s text-only order Thursday (docket 2:22-cv-05524). The parties strongly disagree “about the merits of the not yet fully briefed dismissal motion,” it said. Dunst doesn’t “presume to address the strength (or weakness)” of the village’s pending dismissal motion at this time,” it said. The court also rejects Muttontown’s “hypothetical arguments about the alleged burden and prejudice associated with not yet served discovery demands in this case,” it said. The imposition of a stay on all discovery certainly would impose an "obvious prejudice" on AT&T, said the order.