Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-3_14-cv-00560/USCOURTS-cand-3_14-cv-00560-9/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 190
Nature of Suit: Other Contract Actions
Cause of Action: 28:1332 Diversity-Petition for Removal

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United States District Court 

Northern District of California 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 

MICHAEL ALLAGAS, et al.,

Plaintiffs, 

v. 

BP SOLAR INTERNATIONAL, INC., et 

al., 

Defendants. 

Case No. 14-cv-00560-SI (EDL) 

ORDER ON PLAINTIFFS' MOTION TO 

COMPEL 

Re: Dkt. Nos. 99, 100, 113, 114 

On July 28, 2015, Plaintiffs filed a motion to compel production of international warranty 

claims and soldering instructions. As detailed in this Court’s September 2, 2015 Order, the 

Parties’ briefing and argument at the hearing presented an inadequate record, particularly with 

respect to information relevant to proportionality under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 26(b)(1) 

and 26(g)(1)(B)(iii). The Court thus ordered the Parties to file a joint letter addressing the 

deficiencies identified at the hearing and in the Court’s September 2 Order, including a proposal 

for how the Court should resolve the issue. 

In their joint letter, Plaintiffs propose ordering Defendant BP to produce all international 

warranty claims “in English,” although they do not explain whether they mean claims that are 

entirely or partially in English. In addition, Plaintiffs now seek all warranty claims from 

Germany, although following the September 1 hearing Plaintiffs initially only requested claims in 

English. As Germany was by far the largest international market for the solar panels at issue, 

Plaintiffs in effect seek most of the claims sought in their original motion. Plaintiffs argue that 

these claims are necessary to prove common defect as almost all the data they have on U.S. sales 

concerns panels manufactured in Frederick Maryland, rather than any of the other plants. 

Case 3:14-cv-00560-SI Document 120 Filed 09/16/15 Page 1 of 3
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However, Defendant responds that it “do[es] not contend that only panels produced in particular 

plants are potentially subject to the junction box failure mode alleged in plaintiffs’ second 

amended complaint.” Moreover, the data cited by Plaintiff indicates that over 90% of the panels 

sold in the United States and thus the vast majority of the panels at issue in this litigation were 

manufactured at the Frederick plant, for which Plaintiffs acknowledge they have sufficient data for 

statistically significant proof of common defect. 

Defendant BP proposes instead that it be ordered to produce all international warranty 

claims for the period up to 2006, stored in a database called CoMa,1

 that can be captured using the 

existing search protocol of English search terms. These claims are primarily relevant to when 

Defendant had notice of the alleged defect, which was one of the main reasons Plaintiffs relied 

upon in seeking international data in their motion. However, BP still fails to provide a reliable 

basis for the Court to apply the proportionality factors. For example, BP does not state how many 

international warranty claims are at issue, the approximate number of claims that are in English 

and the extent to which foreign language is used in foreign claims, nor did BP conduct sampling 

of the data from which to extrapolate that information. 

As previously stated, this lack of specific information makes rendering a decision difficult. 

Nevertheless, provided that Defendant BP unequivocally agrees that it will not argue that the 

defect alleged by Plaintiffs is only tied to particular manufacturing plants, or that the effect of the 

alleged defect varies based on the plant of manufacture, or make similar arguments tied to the 

plant of manufacture, Plaintiffs do not have a sufficient need for additional evidence relevant to 

common defect to outweigh the burden of additional production of all German claims, as Plaintiffs 

now request. The Parties should agree on a stipulation to be filed with the Court to that effect. 

Accordingly, BP is ordered to produce: (1) all non-United States warranty claims recorded 

in its warranty databases for the period up to 2006 that can be captured using the existing search 

protocol worked out between the Parties without translating that protocol into other languages 

(whether or not the claims include any information in languages besides English), and (2) all 

 

1

 CoMA is a database that was used by BP in Europe from 2001-2005. Defendant states that it 

possesses no database other than CoMa for non-U.S. claims prior to 2006. 

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claims from the two foreign English-speaking countries where the panels were sold, the United 

Kingdom and Australia,2 that can be captured using the existing search protocol for the entire time 

period relevant to the complaint, which will not likely impose any translation burden3

IT IS SO ORDERED. 

Dated: September 16, 2015 

________________________ 

ELIZABETH D. LAPORTE 

United States Magistrate Judge 

 

2

 These two countries accounted for about 5% of BP’s total international sales. (See Dkt. 118 at 

10 n.1; Dkt. 107-5 ¶ 3.)

3

 Plaintiffs’ unopposed motions to seal exhibits to the Desai declaration in support of its motion 

(Dkt. 99), for leave to file a supplemental declaration (Dkt. 113) and to seal exhibits to that 

supplemental declaration (Dkt. 114) are GRANTED. 

Case 3:14-cv-00560-SI Document 120 Filed 09/16/15 Page 3 of 3