WMH Tool Group, Inc. v. Woodstock, Int’l., Inc., No. 07 C 3885, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Jan. 14, 2009) (Mason, Mag. J.).

Judge Mason granted plaintiff’s motion to quash the deposition notice of plaintiff’s trial counsel ("Counsel") for this trademark infringement dispute, who was also plaintiff’s trademark prosecution counsel for the mark in suit.  The Court held that regardless of what the proper standard was for determining whether to depose trial counsel, it had not been met.  Until defendants took plaintiff’s Rule 30(b)(6) deposition, there was no way to tell whether Counsel had any specialized knowledge or whether his knowledge could be more easily obtained from another source.  The Court, therefore, quashed the deposition notice, but allowed defendants to seek leave to depose Counsel after document production is complete and all relevant depositions have been taken.