By Memorandum Order entered by The Honorable Mary Pat Thynge in Ethypharm S.A. France v. Abbott Laboratories, C.A. No. 08-126-SLR-MPT (D.Del., November 15, 2010), the Court granted, in part, plaintiff Ethypharm’s Motion to Proceed on Certain Discovery Matters under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rather than Under the Hague Convention and ordered that defendant Abbott produce a witness pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 30(b)(6) prepared to testify with knowledge of both Abbott and its newly acquired foreign subsidiary, Fournier, about the topics set forth in the deposition notice. Id. at 18-26. In granting Ethypharm’s motion in part, the Court agreed with Ethypharm’s argument that a parent corporation [Abbott] should be required to produce a 30(b)(6) witness prepared to testify with the knowledge of its subsidiaries and affiliates if those subsidiaries and affiliates are within the parent corporation’s control. Id. at 20-26. The Court also found that there was sufficient evidence to demonstrate Abbott’s control over discoverable information held by Fournier. Id. at 26.  Significantly, the Court did not find compelling Abbott’s argument that the current action concerns events that pre-date its February 2010 acquisition of Fournier given that Ethypharm demonstrated that Abbott exercised "control" over Fournier. Id. at 20-26.

A complete copy of the Memorandum Order is attached.