in Re: Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., and Toyota Motor Corporation ( 2018 )

ACCEPTED
05-18-00582-CV
FIFTH COURT OF APPEALS
DALLAS, TEXAS
5/21/2018 8:55 AM
LISA MATZ
CLERK
No. 05-18-00582-CV
FILED IN
IN THE FIFTH COURT OF APPEALS 5th COURT OF APPEALS
DALLAS, TEXAS DALLAS, TEXAS
5/21/2018 8:55:25 AM
LISA MATZ
IN RE TOYOTA MOTOR SALES, U.S.A., INC., Clerk
AND TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION
Relators.
Original Proceeding from the 134th District Court
Dallas County, Texas, Trial Court Cause No. DC-16-15296,
Honorable Dale Tillery, Presiding
EMERGENCY MOTION FOR TEMPORARY RELIEF
James W. Halbrooks, Jr. Allyson N. Ho
Texas Bar No. 24045354 Texas Bar No. 24033667
James.Halbrooks@bowmanandbrooke.com MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS LLP
Suzanne H. Swaner 1717 Main Street, Suite 3200
Texas Bar No. 90001631 Dallas, Texas 75201
Suzanne.Swaner@bowmanandbrooke.com
allyson.ho@morganlewis.com
BOWMAN AND BROOKE LLP
5830 Granite Park, Suite 1000 T. 214.466.4000 F. 214.466.4001
Plano, Texas 75024
T. 972.616.1700 F. 972.616.1701 Winstol D. Carter, Jr.
Texas Bar No. 03932950
Victor Vital winn.carter@morganlewis.com
Texas Bar No. 00794798 Claire Swift Kugler
victor.vital@btlaw.com Texas Bar No. 00797530
Elizabeth Brandon claire.kugler@morganlewis.com
Texas Bar No. 24049580 MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS LLP
ebrandon@btlaw.com 1000 Louisiana, Suite 4000
BARNES & THORNBURG LLP Houston, Texas 77002
2100 McKinney Ave, Suite 1250
T. 713.890.5000 F. 713.890.5001
Dallas, Texas 75201-6908
T. 214.258.4200 F. 214.258.4199
Counsel for Relators
IDENTITIES OF PARTIES AND COUNSEL
The following constitutes a list of all parties to the cause below and the names
and addresses of all counsel:
Relators (Defendants in the Trial Court):
Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. and Toyota Motor Corporation
Counsel for Relators:
James W. Halbrooks, Jr. Allyson N. Ho
Texas Bar No. 24045354 Texas Bar No. 24033667
James.Halbrooks@bowmanandbrooke.com MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS LLP
Suzanne H. Swaner 1717 Main Street, Suite 3200
Texas Bar No. 90001631 Dallas, Texas 75201
Suzanne.Swaner@bowmanandbrooke.com allyson.ho@morganlewis.com
BOWMAN AND BROOKE LLP T. 214.466.4000 F. 214.466.4001
5830 Granite Park, Suite 1000
Plano, Texas 75024 Winstol D. Carter, Jr.
T. 972.616.1700 F. 972.616.1701 Texas Bar No. 03932950
winn.carter@morganlewis.com
Victor Vital Claire Swift Kugler
Texas Bar No. 00794798 Texas Bar No. 00797530
victor.vital@btlaw.com claire.kugler@morganlewis.com
Elizabeth Brandon MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS LLP
Texas Bar No. 24049580 1000 Louisiana, Suite 4000
ebrandon@btlaw.com Houston, Texas 77002
BARNES & THORNBURG LLP T. 713.890.5000 F. 713.890.5001
2100 McKinney Ave, Suite 1250
Dallas, Texas 75201-6908
T. 214.258.4200 F. 214.258.4199
Respondent:
Honorable Dale Tillery
Judge, 134th District Court
Dallas County, Texas
Real Parties In Interest (Plaintiffs in the Trial Court):
Benjamin Thomas Reavis and
Kristi Carol Reavis, individually and as next friends of
E.R. and O.R., minor children
Counsel For Real Parties In Interest:
Frank L. Branson
Texas Bar No. 02899000
Eric T. Stahl
Texas Bar No. 00794685
Eugene A. “Chip” Brooker, Jr.
Texas Bar No. 24045558
THE LAW OFFICES OF FRANK L. BRANSON, P.C.
Highland Park Place
4514 Cole Avenue, 18th Floor
Dallas, Texas 75205
T. 214.522.0200 F. 214.521.5485
Other Parties (Defendants in the Trial Court):
Michael Steven Mummaw
Mark Howell
Counsel For Defendant Michael Steven Mummaw and Mark Howell:
Jonathan Manning
Texas Bar No. 12947200
LAW OFFICES OF GALLERSON & YATES
2110 Walnut Hill Lane, Suite 200
Irving, Texas 75038
T. 972.580.1249 F. 855.614.6695
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Relators Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. and Toyota Motor Corporation
(together, “Toyota”) move for emergency temporary relief pending this Court’s
disposition of their Petition for Writ of Mandamus. TEX. R. APP. P. 52.10.
Emergency relief is immediately necessary because the trial court has refused to
extend its stay of the discovery order at issue beyond today, May 18, 2018. MR574.
The discovery order provides that, after conducting a search using “Plaintiffs’
proposed formulation,” “Toyota shall have seven days in which to review the
responsive documents to determine whether any materials should be withheld from
production because they are privileged. . . .” MR386. Toyota must therefore seek
emergency temporary relief to avoid responding to invasive, overbroad discovery
requests. TEX. R. APP. P. 10.3(a)(3) (requiring court of appeals to determine motion
at least ten days after filing unless “the motion is an emergency”).
Toyota respectfully requests that this Court stay Respondent’s* order
requiring Toyota to give Plaintiffs:
• Direct access to its electronic database systems without first
making the evidentiary showing required by In re Weekley
Homes, 295 S.W.3d 309 (Tex. 2005) (orig. proceeding);
• Discovery that exceeds what is permitted by the rules of
procedure by requiring Toyota to translate documents normally
maintained in Japanese into English, contrary to the rule that
parties need only produce documents as kept “in the usual course
of business,” In re Colonial Pipeline Co., 968 S.W.2d 938, 942
*
Respondent is the Honorable Dale Tillery of the 134th District Court of Dallas
County, Texas.
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(Tex. 1998) (orig. proceeding); and
• Discovery that is irrelevant, overbroad, and disproportional
because it is unlimited in scope, time, and subject matter,
contrary to the rule that “overbroad requests for irrelevant
information are improper whether they are burdensome or not, In
re Nat’l Lloyds Ins. Co., 449 S.W.3d 486, 488 (Tex. 2014) (per
curiam) (orig. proceeding).
Respondent signed the order—which was unilaterally submitted by the Real Parties
in Interest and entered in its entirety by Respondent—on May 4, 2018, denied
reconsideration of the order on May 14, 2018, and declined to extend the stay
requested by Toyota beyond today, May 18, 2018. MR380-386, 565, 574.
Toyota respectfully requests that this Court enter a stay until this original
proceeding is finally decided. See TEX. R. APP. P. 52.10(a). Toyota attaches a
proposed order to this Motion.
The temporary relief requested by Toyota is necessary to preserve this Court’s
jurisdiction to address the important issues raised in Toyota’s mandamus petition,
which is being filed concurrently with this motion. This case involves the discovery
of electronically stored information—an area the Texas Supreme Court has warned
is particularly susceptible to invasive, overbroad discovery requests. Weekley
Homes, 295 S.W.3d at 316, 317. In particular, it involves ordering the producing
party to allow the requesting party direct access to its information databases—a
drastic measure the Texas Supreme Court has held cannot be allowed unless the
requesting party makes an evidentiary showing that the producing party “defaulted
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in its obligations to search its own records.” Weekley Homes, 295 S.W.3d at 309.
Emergency relief is needed because without it, Plaintiffs will gain what is
tantamount to direct access to Toyota’s information databases—a grave intrusion
that will be impossible to undo once it occurs and would effectively insulate the trial
court’s order from meaningful appellate review. MR586. Emergency relief is
therefore necessary and appropriate not only to prevent irreparable harm to Toyota,
but also to protect this Court’s jurisdiction to review the order at issue. At the same
time, the requested stay will cause little, if any, harm to the Real Parties in Interest.
This Court entered a stay on virtually indistinguishable facts in In re VERP
Inv., LLC, 457 S.W.3d 255 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2015, orig. proceeding), when it
granted VERP’s emergency motion to stay an order that was entered by the
Respondent here and similarly allowed direct access in violation of Weekley Homes.
In re VERP, No. 05-15-00023-CV, Tex. App.—Dallas 2015, orig. proceeding, (Jan.
9, 2015 Order). The Court later conditionally granted VERP’s petition. 457 S.W.3d
at 260. Just as it was in VERP, a stay is warranted here, as well.
For all these reasons, Relators pray that this Court grant their Emergency
Motion for Temporary Relief and stay Respondent’s order until Toyota’s mandamus
petition is resolved.
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Dated: May 21, 2018 Respectfully submitted,
MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS LLP
/s/ Allyson N. Ho
James W. Halbrooks, Jr. Allyson N. Ho
Texas Bar No. 24045354 Texas Bar No. 24033667
James.Halbrooks@bowmanand MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS LLP
brooke.com 1717 Main Street, Suite 3200
Suzanne H. Swaner Dallas, Texas 75201
Texas Bar No. 90001631 allyson.ho@morganlewis.com
Suzanne.Swaner@bowmanand T. 214.466.4000
brooke.com F. 214.466.4001
BOWMAN AND BROOKE LLP
5830 Granite Park, Suite 1000 Winstol D. Carter, Jr.
Plano, Texas 75024 Texas Bar No. 03932950
T. 972.616.1700 winn.carter@morganlewis.com
F. 972.616.1701 Claire Swift Kugler
Texas Bar No. 00797530
Victor Vital claire.kugler@morganlewis.com
Texas Bar No. 00794798 MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS LLP
victor.vital@btlaw.com 1000 Louisiana, Suite 4000
Elizabeth Brandon Houston, Texas 77002
Texas Bar No. 24049580 T. 713.890.5000
ebrandon@btlaw.com F. 713.890.5001
BARNES & THORNBURG LLP
2100 McKinney Ave, Suite 1250
T. 214.258.4200
F. 214.258.4199
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CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE
As required by Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 52.10(a), I certify that I
have notified counsel for all parties that the foregoing motion would be filed by
expedited means—i.e., by email or telephone, on May 21, 2018.
/s/ Allyson N. Ho
Allyson N. Ho
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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
As required by Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure 6.3 and 9.5(b), (d), (e),
and 52.7(c), I certify that a copy of the foregoing motion was served on all parties
and counsel by email or fax on May 21, 2018:
Frank L. Branson Jonathan Manning
Texas Bar No. 02899000 Texas Bar No. 12947200
Eric T. Stahl LAW OFFICES OF GALLERSON & YATES
Texas Bar No. 00794685 2110 Walnut Hill Lane, Suite 200
Eugene A. “Chip” Brooker, Jr. Irving, Texas 75038
Texas Bar No. 24045558 T. 972.580.1249 F. 855.614.6695
THE LAW OFFICES OF FRANK L. Liberty Mutual
BRANSON, P.C.
Highland Park Place Counsel for Defendants Michael
4514 Cole Avenue, 18th Floor Steven Mummaw and Mark Howell
Dallas, Texas 75205
T. 214.522.0200
F. 214.521.5485 The Honorable Dale Tillery
Judge, 134th District Court of Dallas
Counsel for Plaintiffs/Real County, Texas
Parties in Interest George L. Allen, Sr. Courts Bdg.
600 Commerce Street
Dallas, Texas 75202
Respondent
/s/ Allyson N. Ho
Allyson N. Ho
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