Nimitz Produces Documents Judge Demanded for 3rd-Party Funding Probe

Nimitz Technologies’ outside counsel George Pazuniak of O’Kelly & O’Rourke responded Thursday to the April 4 show-cause order of Senior U.S. District Judge Colm Connolly for Delaware by producing, in camera, the emails, bank records and other materials Connolly demanded in his Nov. 10 order. Connolly ordered the production of the materials for his investigation into whatever third-party funding may have contributed to the filing of four Nimitz patent infringement lawsuits against Bloomberg, BuzzFeed, Cnet and Imagine Learning (see 2212060020). Pazuniak resisted the November order while he unsuccessfully sought mandamus relief on attorney-client privilege grounds from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Connolly’s show cause order demanded that Pazuniak appear before him in person April 11 and be prepared to explain why he and Nimitz shouldn’t be sanctioned for their failure to comply with the November order for the materials (see 2304050023). It’s unclear whether Pazuniak’s sudden production of the materials will be enough to placate Connolly or whether he will still appear before the judge to explain why the noncompliance lasted for nearly two months after the Federal Circuit last denied Pazuniak's request for mandamus relief. The materials production “is made without prejudice to Nimitz’ continuing objection to the production of documents which are protected by the attorney-client privilege, and to the requirement to produce any documents,” said Pazuniak's signed submission Thursday (docket 1:21-cv-01247).