In re Splunk Inc. Securities Litigation

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

Case No. 20-cv-08600-JST (AGT)

IN RE SPLUNK INC. SECURITIES

LITIGATION

DISCOVERY ORDER

Re: Dkt. No.

This order addresses a dispute over six of plaintiff’s RFPs and over the scope of two non- party subpoenas. For context, plaintiff’s allegations are briefly reviewed first. * * * Plaintiff alleges that Splunk’s CEO (Douglas Merritt) and CFO (Jason Child) made mis- leading statements about the company’s sales and marketing efforts, in violation of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Plaintiff seeks to represent a class of all persons who purchased Splunk common stock between March 26, 2020, and December 2, 2020. Judge Tigar granted in part defendants’ motion to dismiss. See Dkt. 77. After that order, only statements made by Merritt and Child on three occasions in 2020 are at issue. On those occa- sions, Merritt and Child indicated that Splunk was continuing to invest in sales and marketing, to hit growth targets. See Compl. ¶¶ 110–18. Splunk, however, had actually suspended marketing investments, stopped hiring sales staff, and terminated its “new logo” unit. Id. ¶ 102. Investors…