Skillz Platform Inc. v. AviaGames Inc.

I. BACKGROUND

23 On August 23, 2023, the Court ordered that discovery be reopened for the purpose of 24 investigating AviaGames’ use of “bots”—that is, non-human, non-real-time players. ECF No. 25 224. In the course of conducting discovery, AviaGames withheld over 1000 documents that were 26 otherwise responsive to Skillz’s discovery requests, claiming that they were covered by the 27 attorney-client privilege. ECF No. 300-3. AviaGames also produced privilege logs identifying the documents. See ECF Nos. 300-4, 300-5. Skillz then requested that the magistrate judge review in camera 231 documents that might fall under the crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege. ECF No. 300-3 at 1. The documents fell into two groups: (1) 207 communications related to Opinion Letters prepared by Blank Rome, which AviaGames used to access financial institutions; and (2) 24 documents in which AviaGames sought legal advance on how to respond to customer complaints. Id. The Opinion Letters are “‘reasoned legal opinion[s]’ as defined in 12 C.F.R. § 233.2(x) of the regulations adopted pursuant to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, 31,…