Thomas Benton Smith

In Tarzia v. American Security Insurance, Smith granted a deposition motion to compel in part and awarded reasonable expenses and attorney fees. He excluded travel costs attributable to the defendant's choice of out of area counsel.

“Defendant is entitled to and the Court ‘must’ award Defendant its reasonable expenses, including attorneys’ fees incurred in prosecuting its motion to compel. However, Defendant’s decision to employ an attorney who resides in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida does not justify an award of travel costs for Ms. Tarzia’s deposition.”

In De Gazelle, Smith reviewed the well-pleaded allegations after default and concluded that the plaintiff had stated a breach-of-contract claim before recommending final judgment.

“Therefore, upon due consideration, I conclude that Plaintiff has sustained a claim for breach of contract.”

In Brewer Body Shop v. State Farm, Smith recommended dismissal with leave to amend because the auto shops pleaded interference claims against insurers collectively. His report called for the shops to identify which defendants interfered with which plaintiffs; the district judge adopted the recommendation.

“Here, as in the Mississippi case, I recommend that the Court dismiss this count without prejudice, with instructions that Plaintiff identify specifically which Defendants interfered with which Plaintiffs.”

In L-3 Communications v. Sparton, Smith partly sustained objections to a special master’s electronic discovery recommendation. He required a targeted search for “L3” unless an earlier “L-3” search captured the same documents, but excused the remaining disputed terms.

“Defendants may modify the search query to exclude documents located by searches it has already conducted. Defendants need not run the remainder of the disputed terms from Plaintiffs first set of search terms.”