Seyfarth Shaw lawyers couldn’t have thought it a good sign when their motion to clarify — filed in defense of client Costco in an employment discrimination action — provoked a reply from Judge Marilyn Patel entitled “Order Clarifying That Which Need Not Be Clarified.”
Indeed, the San Francisco federal judge smacked down the defense’s entreaties last week in language usually reserved for petulant children.
Plaintiff lawyers, led by The Impact Fund and Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, have alleged a glass ceiling at Costco for female employees seeking promotion. They’re seeking class status. In response, Seyfarth lawyers have produced 204 declarations from women workers saying, in general, that the retailer treats them just fine.
Multiple aspects of the declarations irked the plaintiff lawyers, who A) raised the specter that they were obtained through coercive means, and B) argued the declarants’ contention that they never witnessed or suffered discrimination was inadmissible because it is a legal conclusion by a layperson.
So on Oct. 10, Patel’s order (.pdf) told Costco to produce its declarants in court for examination. All of them.
Excellent! Details here from the Legal Pad, the legal blog of CalLaw.com.