Court Description: MEMORANDUM OPINION & ORDER re: 1243 LETTER MOTION for Oral Argument on 1231 Objection to 1221 Order granting sanctions addressed to Judge Alison J. Nathan from Matthew L. Schwartz dated 4/17/20. filed by City of Almaty, BTA Ba nk JSC. For the foregoing reasons, the Court overrules the Kazakh Entities’ objections (Dkt. No. 1231) to Judge Parker’s March 12, 2020 Opinion. The Kazakh Entities’ motion for oral argument (Dkt. No. 1243) is DENIED as moot. This resolves Docket Numbers 1231 and 1243. (As further set forth in this Order.) (Signed by Judge Alison J. Nathan on 3/29/2021) (cf)
Finally, the Court concludes that Judge Parker did not clearly err in the sanctions she imposed. The parties had extensively litigated whether the Kazakh Entities would be allowed to make use of witnesses they did not timely disclose. Judge Parker carefully balanced the interests of the parties by allowing the Kazakh Entities to amend their Rule 26 disclosures but limiting their deposition questioning to issues related to the reason she allowed the late disclosures— namely, authenticating and laying foundation for admission of the spreadsheets.
