United States Ninth Circuit

In a case alleging defendants committed criminal acts related to improper disposal of asbestos-contaminated vermiculite spanning 26 years and creating numerous victims and potential witnesses, certain pretrial orders are reversed and remanded for further proceedings where: 1) the government satisfied its burden under 18 U.S.C. section 3731 to certify the materiality of apparently excluded evidence, justifying the court's jurisdiction over the interlocutory appeal; 2) the district court exceeded its authority by ordering the government to produce a pretrial list of nonexpert witnesses; but 3) the district court acted within its authority in requiring pretrial disclosure of a list of the government's intended expert witnesses and the documents upon which those expert witnesses would rely.

Appellate Information

• Argued 12/12/2007
• Decided 07/12/2007
• Published 07/12/2007

Judges

• Before:  ALEX KOZINSKI, Chief Judge, HARRY PREGERSON, STEPHEN REINHARDT, ANDREW J. KLEINFELD, HAWKINS, SUSAN P. GRABER, M. MARGARET McKEOWN, KIM McLANE WARDLAW, RAYMOND C. FISHER, CARLOS T. BEA and MILAN D. SMITH, JR., Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• James C. Kilbourne (argued), Kevin M. Cassidy and Allen M. Brabender, Attorneys, United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC;  William W. Mercer, United States Attorney;  Kris A. McLean, Assistant United States Attorney;  Ronald J. Tenpas, Acting Assistant Attorney General, for the plaintiff-appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Christopher Landau, P.C. (argued), Laurence A. Urgenson, Tyler D. Mace and Michael D. Shumsky, Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Washington, DC;  Stephen R. Brown, Charles E. McNeil and Kathleen L. DeSoto, Garlington Lohn & Robinson, PLLP, Missoula, MT, for defendant-appellee, W.R. Grace & Co., Ronald F. Waterman, Gough, Shanahan, Johnson & Waterman, Helena, MT;  David S. Krakoff and Gary A. Winters, Mayer Brown LLP, Washington, DC, for defendant-appellee, Henry A. Eschenbach., Mike Milodragovich and W. Adam Duerk, Milodragovich, Dale, Steinbrenner & Binney, Missoula, MT;  Jeremy Maltby, O'Melveny & Myers LLP, Los Angeles, CA, for defendant-appellee, Jack W. Wolter., Palmer Hoovestal, Hoovestal Law Firm, PLLC, Helena, MT;  Elizabeth Van Doren Gray, Sowell, Gray, Stepp & Laffitte, LLC, Columbia, SC;  William A. Coates, Roe Cassidy Coates & Price, PA, Greenville, SC, for defendant-appellee, William J. McCaig., Brian Gallik, Goetz, Gallik & Baldwin, P.C., Bozeman, MT;  Thomas C. Frongillo, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, Boston, MA;  Vernon S. Broderick, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, New York, NY, for defendant-appellee, Robert J. Bettacchi., C.J. Johnson, Kalkstein Law Firm, Missoula, MT;  Stephen A. Jonas and Robert Keefe, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, Boston, MA, for defendant-appellee, O. Mario Favorito., Catherine A. Laughner and Aimee M. Grmoljez, Browning Kaleczyc Berry & Hoven, P.C., Helena, MT;  Stephen R. Spivack, Bradley Arant Rose & White LLP, Washington, DC;  David E. Roth, Bradley Arant Rose & White LLP, Birmingham, AL, for defendant-appellee, Robert C. Walsh.