Judge Dlott Sanctions Attorney for Missed Deposition in Cincinnati Police Misconduct Suit

CINCINNATI (LN) — A federal judge in the Southern District of Ohio imposed sanctions on plaintiff’s attorney Justin Whittaker for missing a deposition in a police misconduct case, ordering him to pay fees to opposing counsel and mandating that plaintiff Brendon Taylor’s wife answer questions about her attorney retention.

U.S. District Judge Susan J. Dlott issued the discovery order on May 12 following a conference held on May 5, ruling that Whittaker failed to timely appear for the properly noticed deposition of plaintiff Brendon Taylor.

As a sanction, Dlott ordered Whittaker to pay one hour of attorney’s fees at the appropriate hourly rate to seven members of the defense team: Katherine Baron, Shuva Paul, Mickey McClanahan, Zachary Gottesman, Dmitriy Bikmayev, Amanda Bent, and Eric Munas.

Whittaker must also pay $300 to Gottesman for court reporter fees associated with the missed appearance. Payment is due within 30 days of the entry.

The order also addresses the scope of upcoming depositions, specifically targeting the attorney-client relationship between plaintiff Holly Hooven and Whittaker.

Dlott ordered Holly Hooven to personally appear immediately after Brendon Taylor’s deposition on June 22. Her deposition will be reopened for the purpose of questioning how she was introduced to and retained Whittaker as her legal counsel.

The order specifies that while Holly Hooven must answer these questions, she is not required to divulge information protected by attorney-client privilege or the work-product doctrine.

A similar directive applies to plaintiff Brendon Taylor. If asked at his deposition how he was introduced to and retained Whittaker, he must fully and completely answer all related questions, though privilege protections remain in place.

Dlott also issued several other discovery directives, including an order for Whittaker to provide executed HIPAA-compliant releases for Brendon Taylor by May 8.

The judge prohibited Whittaker from serving a subpoena on Barry Spaeth without leave of court and barred him from deposing Teresa Theetge, the former chief of the Cincinnati Police Department.

Additionally, Dlott overruled plaintiff’s objections to a subpoena served on the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, allowing defendants to serve a substantially similar subpoena on the Ohio Department of Children & Youth as custodian of records for the SACWIS database.

The order amended the scheduling order, setting July 17 for plaintiff’s expert reports, August 14 for rebuttal reports, and September 18 as the discovery cutoff.

Any issues raised in joint discovery conference agendas submitted on April 29 that were not specifically addressed were deemed voluntarily withdrawn and waived.