Defendant Need Not Produce Customer-Specific Damages Discovery

The court denied plaintiff's motion to compel the production of customer-specific damages discovery. "[T]he issue appears to be whether plaintiff is entitled to the names of [defendant's] customers. On the state of the current record, the court is unable to conclude that plaintiff's need for this information, which is typically protected as confidential, outweighs the potential harm to [defendant] resulting from disclosure. Of particular concern is that the names of [defendant's] customers, if produced to plaintiff during discovery, would have to be disclosed to . . . a co-defendant. Because [the defendants] are direct competitors in the telecommunications industry, disclosure of this information is presumptively harmful to [defendant]."

Red River Fiber Optic Corp. v. Verizon Services Corp., et. al., 3-11-cv-01010 (TXND January 10, 2012, Order) (Kaplan, M.J.)