Rossi v. IH Case: Protective Order Issued, Judge Strikes, Upholds Affirmative Defenses

Some new document has been published in the court case. One is an “ORDER granting Motion for Protective Order. Signed by Magistrate Judge John J. O’Sullivan on 10/14/2016” in which materials considered to be confidential by any party involved can be covered by a strict order of secrecy.

The full order can be read here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BzKtdce19-wyb1RxOTF6c2NtZkk

The document states that: “This includes, but is not limited to, trade secrets or other confidential research, development, commercial and proprietary information”

So this entire court case could turn out to be rather boring for people watching from the outside, since almost anything connected with this whole case could be covered by this phrase.

Another document just posted is: “ORDER granting in part and denying in part54 Motion to Strike;Please see order for details. Signed by Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga on 10/14/2016.” This is a response to Rossi and his affiliates filing motions to dismiss IH’s counter-complaints.

Judge Altonaga has ordered the following items to be upheld or stricken:

1. The Motion [ECF No. 54] is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part as follows:

a. Affirmative Defenses 1 [Standing], 4 [Unclean Hands], 6 [Unlawful Actions], and 9  [Merger, Integration and Ratification], as well as Paragraphs 126–33 of Count II of the Counterclaims and Third-Party Claims in Defendants’ Answer remain intact.

b. Affirmative Defenses 2 [Failure to State a Claim] and 10 [Speculative Damages] are STRICKEN.

c. Affirmative Defense 3 [Estoppel, Waiver, Laches, “And Other Applicable Equitable Doctrines”] is STRICKEN in part. The phrase “and other applicable equitable doctrines” is stricken.

2 d. Affirmative Defense 7 [Fraudulant Misrepresentation] is STRICKEN in part. Defendants shall clarify Affirmative Defense 7 to specify the corporate entity alleged responsible for particular acts of fraudulent misrepresentation