If you are not a regular Minnesota Litigator reader, if you are unfamiliar with the U.S. District Court’s version of a saga (by which I mean here that we have our own hard fought epic battle from which few if any will escape unscarred) known as Afremov v. Lafond, Sulloway & Hollis, et al., don’t bother with this post.
For those following this saga, the latest tussel is whether Afremov can get the court to “unseal” documents that Afremov already has in his possession.
Not your everyday discovery dispute. This issue is not one that Minnesota litigators generally are likely to confront in their practices. Defense counsel more or less suggests that plaintiff’s counsel seeks to “unseal” documents that plaintiff already has access to as something in the nature of blackmail — threatening to produce the unsealed documents to the U.S. government, which might seek to prosecute defendants based on the contents of the unredacted affidavits.
The issue to be decided by U.S. District Court Judge Janie S. Mayeron, in the first instance, at least, plumbs depths of criminal procedure deeper than this Minnesota civil litigator has ever swam so I make no prediction as to outcome.
This is just another chapter in the Heimskringla for the more voracious and tenacious Minnesota Litigator readers.