The Law Office |Counsel for Plaintiff is directed to file a letter, no longer than two double-spaced pages, explaining precisely why PO Box 2238, Poug Ms. Blackburn must be deposed in this matter. That letter shall be filed by 5:00 p.m. on August 16, 2021. Phone 845 454 0835 Fax 845 454 0836 Counsel for Defendants shall respond, explaining specifically the reasons for refusing to produce Ms. Blackburn, in a letter no longer than two double-spaced pages filed by 5:00 p.m. on August 18, 2021. August 11, 2021 SO ORDERED. Hon. Phillip M. Halpern, USDJ Federal Courthouse 300 Quarropas Street, Room 530 Drie M Hal ilip M. Halpern White Plains, New York 10601 United States District Judge Re: — Nelson Murray v. Dutlpated: White Plains, New York 7:17-cv-09121 August 12, 2021 Dear Judge Halpern, The parties have reached an impasse over the plaintiffs request to depose Caroline Blackburn Esq., a former line attorney for Dutchess County.' The defendants decline to produce Ms. Blackburn, but they do not identify a privilege that would entitle them to a protective order. The parties have conferred (as set forth in the attached correspondence) but are unable to resolve the dispute. Time is of the essence as the deadline for completing fact discovery is August 31, 2021. Accordingly, this letter is a joint request for a pre-motion conference. “The party seeking a protective order bears the burden of establishing that good cause for the order exists.” Duling v. Gristede’s Operating Corp., 266 F.R.D. 66, 71 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 30, 2010). “Good cause is established by ‘demonstrating a particular need for protection.’” Id. (quoting Cipollone v. Liggett Group, Inc., 785 F.2d 1108, 1121 (3d Cir. 1986)). “Ordinarily, good cause exists ‘when a party shows that disclosure will result in a clearly defined, specific and serious injury.’” Jn re Terrorist Attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, 454 F. Supp. 2d 220, 222 (S.D.N.Y. 2006) (quoting Shingara v. Skiles, 420 F.3d 301, 306 (3d Cir. 2005)). Email JenBrown@DJenBrownESQ.com The Law Office of D. Jen Brown, PLLC QL. Prewn D. Jef/Brown, Esq. Attachments ce: Garrett Kaske, Esq. (by ECF) Kimberly Hunt-Lee, Esq. (by ECF) Mr. Nelson Murray Blackburn has since been elevated to the position of County Attorney. Gma i| Jen Brown Document Requests Brown Fri, Aug 6, 2021 at 11:18 AN Kimberly Hunt Lee Garrett Kaske , Monica Marshall Dear Kimberly, Thank you for your kindness and professionalism during the depositions over the last four days. I do have a concern though. Due to your schedule, we have struggled to schedule and complete depositions within the court-ordered deadline. After Tuesday's deposition, you advised that your work and vacation schedule (and Ms. Blackburn's maternity leave) would make it difficult to schedule Ms. Blackburn for a deposition within the deadline (August 30). Here are my available dates for the rest of the month. August 9, 10, 11, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27. Iam NOT available on 8/30 or 8/31 as I have medical appointments that cannot be changed on both days. Otherwise, I have cleared my calendar to accommodate you and Ms. Blackburn. Please confirm by close of business Monday which of the proposed dates will suit you and your client so that I may make the proper arrangements. As we are close to the Court imposed discovery deadline, if I do not hear back from you with a confirmed date for this deposition, I will request Judge Harlen's assistance. Thank you in anticipation of your willingness to make a good faith effort to get this done. This is a reminder that at the deposition of M. Dutcavich, plaintiff requested production of the following: progress notes prepared by witness Mathew Dutcavich on or about April 26, 2017 regarding the PO-15X project. Mr. Dutcavich stated that these notes are maintained online. M. Dutcavich testified that on or about April 26,2017, he received a date-stamped copy of plaintiff's EEOC complaint. (Exhibit 17 attached). Please produce: e M. Dutcavich's date-stamped dated on or about April 26, 2017. Have a great weekend Kim and thanks again. The greatest compliment is a referral. Best Regards, -- Jen The Law Office of D. Jen Brown, PLLC 272 Mill Street, Suite 204 Poughkeepsie, New York 12601 (845) 454-0835 - Office (845) 454-0836 - Fax "Bind ye the broken with the hands of Justice..." This transmission is intended by the sender and proper recipient(s) to be confidential, intended only for the proper recipient(s) and may contain information that ice attnrnayv wiark Aradict ar avamnt fram dicerlnciira pndar annlicahla law lFunar ara nnat tha intandad rariniant(e) vor ara notitiad that tha Gmail Jen Brown Document Requests Hunt Lee Sun, Aug 8, 2021 at 3:17 PM Jen Brown Garrett Kaske , Monica Marshall Jen, | haven’t been able to get in touch with Caroline. Can you tell me what the basis is for the request for the deposition of the County Attorney? We have produced 7 witnesses for you — without objection, and it is hard to understand what purpose her testimony would serve? | will continue to try to reach her tomorrow, but | have meetings at 10, 11, 12:30 and 2. | also have depositions Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week. We are short staffed in both attorneys and staff so coverage isn’t even an option for me. Kim Kimberly Hunt Lee, Esq. McCabe & Mack LLP 63 Washington Street Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 845-486-6894 | Office 845-486-7621 | Fax Visit us on the web at mccm.com \ 4 re oso. — A = eee, 2 ae lode Mtml alse: Ly. A : Vi 2496 -_ a J □□ + ea SS eee "(oat =m at=t com com al op fat 0 1 Pl a LAW 2895 507 The information contained in this message and attachments, if any, is privileged and/or confidential information intended only for the use of the intended recipient. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please immediately notify us by telephoning (845) 486- 6800 and delete all electronic copies of this message and attachments, if any, (without retaining a copy thereof). Please destroy or return any printed copies of this message and attachments, if any, via U.S. Postal Service to McCabe & Mack LLP, 63 Washington Street, P.O. Box 509, Poughkeepsie, NY 12602-0509. Save a tree. Please consider the environment and only print this e-mail if it's really necessary. [Quoted text hidden] Gma i| Jen Brown Blackburn Brown Mon, Aug 9, 2021 at 6:06 PIV Kimberly Hunt Lee , Garrett Kaske , Monica Marshall Hello Kimberly, Have you confirmed a date for Ms. Blackburn's deposition? The greatest compliment is a referral. Best Regards, -- Jen The Law Office of D. Jen Brown, PLLC 272 Mill Street, Suite 204 Poughkeepsie, New York 12601 (845) 454-0835 - Office (845) 454-0836 - Fax "Bind ye the broken with the hands of Justice..." This transmission is intended by the sender and proper recipient(s) to be confidential, intended only for the proper recipient(s) and may contain information that is privileged, attorney work product or exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If you are not the intended recipient(s), you are notified that the dissemination, distribution or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. If you receive this message in error, or are not the proper recipient(s), please notify the sender at either the email address or telephone number above and delete this email from your computer. Receipt by anyone other than the proper recipient(s) is not a waiver of any attorney-client, work product, or other applicable privilege. Thank you. The Law Office of D Jen Brown, PLLC PO Box 2238, Poughkeepsie, New York 12601 Phone 845 454 0835 JenBrown@DJenBrownESQ.com Fax 845 454 0836 www.DJenBrownESQ.com August 9, 2021 Kimberly Hunt Lee, Esq. McCabe & Mack LLP 63 Washington Street Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 Re: Nelson Murray v. Dutchess County et.al. CV 7:17-cv-09121 Dear Kimberly: Judge Halpern practices strict adherence to the requirement that parties meet and confer before presenting him with a discovery dispute. We have apparently reached an impasse over whether you will produce Caroline Blackburn for a deposition. On June 2, 2021, Judge Halpern set a firm deadline of August 31, 2021 for the completion of discovery. He pointedly instructed you to find time in your schedule to comply with the discovery demands of this case. Despite Judge Halpern’s admonitions, you could not find any flexibility in your schedule for two months. As a result, depositions were delayed until the first week of August. Last week, we identified Caroline Blackburn as an essential witness. On August 4, 2021, we gave you notice of our intent to depose Ms. Blackburn. Your response was (1) that you cannot reach Ms. Blackburn who you report is “on maternity leave,” (2) you have no availability this month and (3) you will be on vacation the last week of August. Considering Judge Halpern’s firm deadline, | believe the parties have reached an impasse. | write this letter consistent with my obligation to confer in good faith. You were asked to provide a date certain for Ms. Blackburn’s deposition by close of business today. You did not do so. Accordingly, | believe it will be necessary to request Judge Halpern’s assistance with scheduling this deposition. The Law Office of D. Jen Brown, PLLC QD. Prewn D. JegBrown, Esq. cc: Garrett Kaske, Esq. Monica Marshall 4a Gmail Jen Brown and Confer Hunt Lee Wed, Aug 11, 2021 at 5:41 PN Jen Brown Garrett Kaske , Monica Marshall , Donna Feller Jen, In response to this, we agree that the assistance of Judge Halpern is necessary if you are seeking the deposition of Ms. Blackburn. You indicated the reason for her deposition was that 2 witnesses testified that she was involved in the union grievance. That is not my recollection of the testimony. Mr. Balkind testified that he had spoken with Ms. Blackburn regarding the disciplinary hearing and the resulting charges. | have also confirmed with him with that he did not speak with her about the union grievance. Also, Mr. Balkind did not terminate Mr. Murray, that was done by Mr. Cooper. Mr. Dutcavich similarly did not testify that he had any recollection of speaking with her regarding the union grievance. | do not believe that any “advice” she gave has even been implicated here. | have also spoken with Ms. Blackburn about this and she was not involved with anything related to the grievance. She remains on maternity leave, and at this point is unable to leave the baby to conduct a deposition for medical reasons. Kim Kimberly Hunt Lee, Esq. McCabe & Mack LLP 63 Washington Street Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 845-486-6894 | Office 845-486-7621 | Fax Visit us on the web at mccm.com ic i 4 od re 2S = : IV RA = cee S = TAMIA MoO) Mom fol plete —_\i Years 2 CoM eM atc Ma Com op The information contained in this message and attachments, if any, is privileged and/or confidential information intended only for the use of the intended recipient. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please immediately notify us by telephoning (845) 486- 6800 and delete all electronic copies of this message and attachments, if any, (without retaining a copy thereof). Please destroy or return any printed copies of this message and attachments, if any, via U.S. Postal Service to McCabe & Mack LLP, 63 Washington Street, P.O. Box 509, Poughkeepsie, NY 12602-0509. Save a tree. Please consider the environment and only print this e-mail if it's really necessary.