STEPHEN M. FLATOW, Plaintiff, v. THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN, ET AL., Defendants., 196 F.R.D. 203

Summary

Plaintiff judgment creditor sought to obtain satisfaction of a money judgment entered against defendant Islamic Republic of Iran. Plaintiff issued a third-party subpoena to discover records of defendant's assets in the files of third party United States Department of the Treasury. The court approved a consent protective order which prescribed the conditions of production and handling for the bank documents. Plaintiff moved to vacate the protective order, compel third party to produce documents covered by the subpoena, and sanction third party for noncompliance with the subpoena. Plaintiff's motion to vacate the protective order was denied because plaintiff proffered no rationale in support of his plea. Plaintiff's motion to compel production of the subpoenaed documents was granted insofar as the subpoena was modified since third party's bare assertions of a burden did not satisfy the specificity requirement of an undue burden objection. Third party was not sanctioned for destruction of...