Rearden LLC v. The Walt Disney Company
Opinion
Trial Court Opinion
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 REARDEN LLC, et al., Case No. 17-cv-04006-JST
Plaintiffs,
ORDER RE: PLAINTIFFS’
v. DESIGNATIONS OF SHST TRIAL
TESTIMONY
THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY, et al.,
Defendants.
12 The Parties dispute whether Plaintiffs Rearden LLC and MOVA LLC (collectively, “Rearden”) may affirmatively designate witness testimony from the SHST trial to be read to the jury. See ECF No. 550 at 35–47; ECF No. 593 at 20. The Court rules that Rearden’s designations of SHST trial testimony are inadmissible hearsay and outside the scope of Rule 804(b)(1).1 Rule 804(b)(1) provides that former testimony given by an unavailable witness “at a trial, hearing, or lawful deposition” is not hearsay where it “is now offered against a party who had— or, in a civil case, whose predecessor in interest had—an opportunity and similar motive to develop it by direct, cross-, or redirect examination.” Fed. R. Evid. 804(b)(1). Here, the Parties dispute whether SHST/VGH meets the…