A lot of what he’s asking for, in my opinion, isn’t discoverable, at least under the Federal rules. If he can get a judge to agree, then yes, Monster has somewhat of a problem. But that’s pretty unlikely, I think.
But even if he were to try to go in front of the judge, just writing the letter isn’t going to get him anywhere. He’d have to draft discovery requests, and then, when Monster refuses to produce, he’ll have to draft a motion to compel, and then a reply to Monster’s response. That’s $15-20k. Easy.
He said he was defense counsel in a lot of major litigation, and he knows this. He says he likes to fight, but it’s one thing to like to fight when you’re spending someone else’s money. It’s another thing when you’re writing the checks.
I got the impression from the article that he is willing to go that far. Question, what is the $15-$20k being spent on? There are court fees, but does that include billing hours or something more? And are the court fees really that high?
Last time I got Rule 11 penalties, we went through 2 depositions, exchange of interrogatories, and a summary judgment motion (with hearing) for a little over eleven grand. That would have been in 1992 or thereabouts.
My client got his money back, and we embarrassed the &^*^$(&* out of a plaintiff's PI lawyer. What fun!