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14, 2019) MLC Intellectual Property, LLC v.

7, 2019) (denying defendant’s motion to compel because although litigation funding agreements may be discoverable when there is a specific, articulated reason to suspect bias or conflicts of interest, there was no such reason, so discovery into persons and entities that had a financial interest in the litigation was not relevant). 28, 2022) (holding defendant failed to establish “how discovery about litigation financing and witness payments would support or undermine any particular claim or defense”) MLC Intellectual Prop., LLC v. While defendants may continue to demand discovery into litigation funding documents, they do so against a growing body of caselaw holding that such disclosure is improper. The Fleet Connect Solution decision demonstrates that mere speculation regarding the relevance of litigation funding agreements is insufficient to compel the production of such documents. The Court found that “in demanding such documents under the guise of determining ownership of the Asserted Patents, Defendant attempts to engage in a fishing expedition.” The Court was not convinced by Defendant’s contention that litigation funding documents could be relevant to Plaintiff’s standing, emphasizing Defendant’s failure to make any prior good faith standing challenges. The Court found that Defendant failed to show that litigation funding agreements, if any, were relevant to the claims or defenses in the case. The defendant contended that such documents were relevant to whether Plaintiff “negotiated away any ownership rights to the Asserted Patents, which is relevant to whether Plaintiff can meet its burden to show standing.” Defendant also contended the terms of any litigation funding agreements were “relevant to expert bias, motivations of witnesses, and the realistic appraisal of the case.” Waste Connections US, Inc., the defendant brought a motion to compel production of any litigation funding documents relating to the ongoing patent infringement litigation or the patents asserted in that litigation. The court found that such funding agreements are not relevant to any party’s claims or defenses absent a prior good faith challenge to standing.

Chief Judge Gilstrap of the Eastern District of Texas recently adopted a majority rule by denying a motion to compel production of litigation funding documents.