Civil Case Update

Clay v. Consol Pennsylvania Coal Co., LLC, et. al.,(U.S. District Court of the Northern District of West Virginia, July 18, 2013)

The appeal arose out of an underlying lawsuit alleging racial discrimination, age discrimination and retaliation. Consol Pennsylvania Coal Co. ("Consol") objected to deposition questions pertaining to age discrimination due to the fact that the case only pertained to racial discrimination. On appeal, the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of West Virginia considered whether any action taken to limit the deposition topic(s) was proper.

At the time of the depositions, the claim for age discrimination had not yet been formally dismissed; therefore, the magistrate of the court below held that Consol was required to produce witnesses to testify regarding questions on both age and racial discrimination. However, an order dismissing the age discrimination claim was subsequently entered and the District Court determined that since any discovery regarding age discrimination was no longer relevant, discovery must therefore be limited. The order below was then modified to reflect that Consol was not required to produce any witnesses for the purpose of testifying on the issue of age discrimination and/or regarding litigation or claims against Consol involving allegations of age discrimination.