Before you take depositions, you have to have the documents to pin the deponent down. So the plaintiffs sent requests for production to Duke and the other defendants. Duke filed motions for protective order, those were heard and the judge ordered them to produce documents, which they then produced in a "document dump" of thousands of irrelevant similar items. The plaintiffs' lawyers (actually, their paralegals and summer associates) sat around and sifted through the silt of thousands of documents to come up with the nuggets of evidentiary gold.
Those items lead, of course, to more items which the defendants had hoped to avoid producing. Another round of motions to compel/for protective order ensues - and it looks like that's what we're seeing as depositions get under way.
The judge is probably getting irritated about now. If the plaintiffs can show that one or more defendants have been playing 'hide the ball' with documents, things may get pretty intense.
We'll await developments with interest. It seems clear to me that there was malfeasance at the bottom of this (that was pretty darn clear as soon as the AG made his bombshell announcement). Just how blatant will depend on the documents that surface -- and how truthful the deponents are under oath.
Here is the case file. There are two other lawsuits, but this is the one that has the most recent activity.
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/north-carolina/ncmdce/1:2007cv00953/47494/