Ascot Valley Foods, Ltd. v. ADF Foods (USA), Ltd.

Summary

The court denied as moot the defendant’s request for leave to amend its Rule 26 disclosures and interrogatory responses because Rule 26(e) independently requires supplementation of incomplete or incorrect disclosures. The court denied the plaintiff’s request to exclude the defendant’s counterclaim damages calculations as a Rule 37(c)(1) sanction, finding that exclusion was unwarranted under the circumstances. Fact and expert discovery were reopened through December 19, 2025, to permit discovery concerning the amended damages calculations.

Holdings

1. Leave of court was not required because Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(e) requires a party to timely supplement or correct a materially incomplete or incorrect disclosure or interrogatory response. Defendant's motion for leave to amend was therefore denied as moot.
2. Exclusion was not warranted. Although Defendant's omission was not substantially justified, the circumstances did not warrant the drastic sanction of preclusion because the evidence was important, Plaintiff suffered limited and curable prejudice, and additional discovery remained available before trial.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Defendant needed leave of court to supplement its Rule 26 disclosures and interrogatory answers after discovering that they were materially incomplete.
2. Whether Defendant's delayed disclosure warranted exclusion of the damages calculations or another sanction under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(c)(1).

Disposition

other