Interference with Customers Not Basis to Stop Third-Party Subpoenas
In Beal Bank v. Westpoint Int'l, Inc., 2007 WL 459182 (Del. Ch., Dec. 13, 2007), read opinion here, the Chancery Court denied a motion for protective order regarding subpoenas for discovery sent to third-parties that were customers, suppliers and potential business partners of one of the parties. The court distinguished this from cases where the litigants were competitors in the same industry or field. The court also cited to 8 Del. C. Section 122 that refers to corporations capacity "to be sued" as one of the costs of doing business as a corporation.
In essence, the risk of losing customers or business partners due to the annoyance of discovery is just one of the considerations or aspects involved in a lawsuit and is not a basis to quash a subpoena for discovery.
