TRANSCRIBED FROM DIGITAL RECORDING

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS

EASTERN DIVISION

DR. NICHOLAS ANGELOPOULOS, ) Docket No. 12 CV 5836 

 Plaintiff, ) 

) Chicago, Illinois 

 vs. ) March 6, 2014 

) 10:10:53 o'clock a.m.

KEYSTONE ORTHOPEDIC SPECIALISTS,)

S.C., et al., )

 Defendants. )

TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS - Status 

BEFORE MAGISTRATE JUDGE DANIEL G. MARTIN 

APPEARANCES:

For the Plaintiff: GAIR LAW GROUP LTD.

 BY: MR. CHRIS C. GAIR 

 1 East Wacker Drive 

 Suite 2050 

 Chicago, Illinois 60601 

 SIDLEY AUSTIN LLP 

 BY: MR. THOMAS REYNOLDS HEISLER 

 One South Dearborn Street 

 Chicago, Illinois 60603

For Defendant Keystone: PEDERSEN HOUPT 

 BY: MS. NAUREEN AMJAD 

 161 North Clark Street 

 Suite 3100

 Chicago, Illinois 60601 

For Defendant Dubin: DOHERTY & PROGAR

 BY: MR. MICHAEL THOMAS SPRENGNETHER

 200 West Adams Street

 Suite 2220

 Chicago, Illinois 60606

Laura LaCien, CSR, RMR, FCRR, CRR

Official Court Reporter 

219 South Dearborn Street, Suite 1902

Chicago, Illinois 60604

(312) 408-5032 

**PLEASE NOTIFY OF CORRECT SPEAKER IDENTIFICATION**

NOTE: FAILURE TO STAND NEAR THE MICROPHONE MAKES PORTIONS 

UNINTELLIGIBLE AND INAUDIBLE.

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Case: 1:12-cv-05836 Document #: 139 Filed: 04/07/14 Page 1 of 16 PageID #:1176
(The following digitally recorded proceedings were had in 

open court:)

COURTROOM DEPUTY: 12 C 5836, Angelopoulos versus 

Keystone Orthopedic. 

THE COURT: Okay.

MR. GAIR: Good morning, your Honor. Chris Gair and 

Thomas Heisler on behalf of the plaintiff. 

THE COURT: Good morning, Mr. Gair and Mr. Heisler, 

how are you? 

MS. AMJAD: Good morning, your Honor. 

MR. HEISLER: Good morning.

THE COURT: Good morning. 

MS. AMJAD: Naureen Amjad on behalf of the Hall 

defendant. 

THE COURT: Ms. Amjad, good morning. 

MR. SPRENGNETHER: Sorry, your Honor. Late to the 

podium here. 

THE COURT: Thanks. 

MR. SPRENGNETHER: Sprengnether for the Dubin 

defendant. 

THE COURT: Mr. Sprengnether. Good morning, one; 

good morning, all. Okay. 

Today, plaintiff's motion to hold Dr. Hall in 

contempt. Some late-breaking news, though, that Hall has got 

a date when he's a sitting for deposition. Fill me in on the 

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Case: 1:12-cv-05836 Document #: 139 Filed: 04/07/14 Page 2 of 16 PageID #:1177
status. 

MR. GAIR: Yeah, Judge. As you know, the parties 

were here on February 11th. The Court ordered Dr. Hall to 

provide a date. He did provide a date. It's not even 

late-breaking news. He provided a date. We still haven't 

gotten dates for his other depositions almost a month later. 

What happened here, Judge -- and I would like to 

just take a moment to look at the objective fact. 

THE COURT: Let -- Wait, wait, wait. Let's deal 

with what the deposition dates are. I don't want to 

backtrack out of this -- 

MR. GAIR: Okay. 

THE COURT: -- because a lot of what's transpired 

since then impacts on my consideration of this. Which 

depositions is he sitting for? He's a 30(b)(6) witness in 

two separate instances and he's also a defendant. He's got 

to provide a personal deposition. So what are we short here? 

MR. GAIR: Okay. So right now, there are 

depositions, a single day set for Vertical Plus and MedStaff 

which was the subject of the original motion to compel. 

THE COURT: Vertical Plus and MedStaff. 

MR. GAIR: Yes, your Honor. 

THE COURT: So those are the two 30(b)(6) 

depositions? 

MR. GAIR: Those are -- No. Those are two of four 

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Case: 1:12-cv-05836 Document #: 139 Filed: 04/07/14 Page 3 of 16 PageID #:1178
30(b)(6) depositions. There are two other companies -- 

THE COURT: I thought he's supposed to provide -- 

how many? 

MR. GAIR: Five total. 

MS. AMJAD: Your Honor, you had actually ruled on 

February 11th that we were supposed to advise for one date 

for the Rule 30(b)(6) for Vertical Plus and MedStaff -- 

THE COURT: Yeah. 

MR. AMJAD: -- and we did.

THE COURT: But, I mean, five separate depositions, 

it just -- it strikes me as duplicative and all the rest. 

MR. GAIR: Well, Judge, we're not asking for five 

depositions. There are four 30(b)(6) parties. Two are 

non-parties, two are parties, and it's necessitated by the 

fact that Dr. Hall has all these different companies. So we 

did not specify Dr. Hall as the 30(b)(6) witness. We are 

agnostic as to who the 30(b)(6) witness is. He's insisting 

that he be the 30(b)(6) witness for all these depositions. 

THE COURT: All right. But I'm still 

concerned that -- you're saying two but four 30(b)(6) 

depositions and then his personal deposition which is at 

least five. You know, I mean, there's got to be a lot of 

overlap there and, you know, the parties involved need to -- 

we need to get some definitive answers here with respect to 

how much time we can compress all these depositions. He's 

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Case: 1:12-cv-05836 Document #: 139 Filed: 04/07/14 Page 4 of 16 PageID #:1179
not going to set out five, seven-hour dates. What do you all 

propose? 

MR. GAIR: Well, Judge, here's the -- 

THE COURT: First of all, I don't want to hear 

anything about the motion for contempt right now. 

MR. GAIR: That's fine, your Honor. What I'm 

suggesting is that I have a couple of proposals. We have 

already agreed to consolidate two very significant 

depositions into one day. There are two other company 

depositions and, as I said, we don't care who the witness is. 

We just need to get to the bottom of things and we are 

willing to consolidate those as well and then we're going to 

need a deposition of Dr. Hall. 

In that 30(b)(6) deposition, we're not going to be 

asking him questions at all. We're asking the company 

questions; and these companies are defendants in the case, 

your Honor. 

THE COURT: So you're still saying five depositions, 

two --

MR. GAIR: I'm --

THE COURT: Two in one day, then two more to be 

consolidated into one day and then the deposition of Hall. 

MS. AMJAD: Your Honor, if I might -- 

THE COURT: I mean, let Mr. Gair finish. 

MS. AMJAD: Sure.

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Case: 1:12-cv-05836 Document #: 139 Filed: 04/07/14 Page 5 of 16 PageID #:1180
THE COURT: Is that what we're dealing with? 

MR. GAIR: Your Honor, that's what we're dealing 

with. 

THE COURT: All right. All right. 

MS. AMJAD: Your Honor, we actually did discuss 

this. I don't believe Mr. Gair was present on February 11th. 

However, I was. 

THE COURT: Okay. He's here now, though. 

MS. AMJAD: And your Honor had said that we were to 

provide one date for the Rule 30(b)(6) deps of Vertical Plus 

and MedStaff and that we would deal with the party 

depositions at a later time. 

THE COURT: I call that the personal depositions. 

MS. AMJAD: Right. 

THE COURT: Is it the same thing? 

MS. AMJAD: Yes, the personal depositions. And, 

your Honor --

THE COURT: Personal deposition. One personal -- 

one as a defendant in the case. 

MS. AMJAD: One personal and then Keystone and Wachn 

are also defendants and they would like to take the 

depositions of those as well. They -- plaintiff have moved 

for leave to file a second amended complaint. The parties 

are currently briefing that issue. Until the Court rules 

whether or not the second amended complaint is on file, it 

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Case: 1:12-cv-05836 Document #: 139 Filed: 04/07/14 Page 6 of 16 PageID #:1181
would be difficult to be able to set -- 

THE COURT: And that's Judge Dow's -- that's Judge 

Dow's issue. 

MR. GAIR: Your Honor, your Honor, if I may, Wachn 

is a defendant in this case. We're entitled -- we should be 

entitled to a full day for Wachn, we should be entitled to a 

full day for Keystone and we should be entitled to a full day 

for Dr. Hall. 

If -- what I would suggest -- and we're not going to 

waste time, Judge. The point here is to get depositions set. 

That's the entire basis behind our motion. 

THE COURT: I'm just dealing with Hall right now. 

Wachn and Keystone are not issues in front of me. You're 

entitled to a full day for whoever it is. 

MR. GAIR: Okay. Just so I understand, your 

Honor -- 

THE COURT: Okay. 

MR. GAIR: -- is -- are we all in agreement that I'm 

entitled to a full day for Wachn, a full day for Keystone -- 

each of whom is a defendant -- and a full day for Hall? 

THE COURT: Well, let me hear from your opponent 

then. All the sudden -- I mean, I've got plaintiff's motion 

to hold Dr. Hall in contempt pending in front of me and I'm 

trying to parse through that because I'm not easily inclined 

to refer or to recommend that the District Court hold 

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Case: 1:12-cv-05836 Document #: 139 Filed: 04/07/14 Page 7 of 16 PageID #:1182
somebody in contempt if there's a way around it so let's deal 

with that. 

Keystone and Wachn come in and how they impede on 

Hall's time, deposition time, I'm not sure of so what's going 

on? 

MR. GAIR: We cannot get them to give us dates, 

Judge. 

MS. AMJAD: Actually, that's inaccurate. 

MR. GAIR: We've got one -- 

THE COURT: Don't start fighting with each other. 

Let me resolve it today, okay? I'll make some decisions. 

MR. GAIR: Look, Judge, I don't care if you would 

ask Judge Dow to hold him in contempt or not. We just need 

dates. We've been asking for dates and they gave us one 

date, which is what you ordered, but now do we have to keep 

coming back over and over to you and asking for more dates to 

depose parties to the litigation? It doesn't make sense. 

THE COURT: Okay. 

MR. GAIR: What we would like you to do is give us 

an extra day for the non-party 30(b)(6) depositions, a 

date -- one day for each of the three defendant's depositions 

and we will be happy. 

THE COURT: That's, what, five days now? 

MR. GAIR: That's five but we can try and 

consolidate the non-parties into a day and a half. So -- 

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Case: 1:12-cv-05836 Document #: 139 Filed: 04/07/14 Page 8 of 16 PageID #:1183
they're not going to go full days, Judge, but we have to have 

this option because they're parties, three of them are 

parties to the lawsuit. 

THE COURT: I understand. Ms. Amjad, what -- 

MS. AMJAD: Your Honor, with all due respect as I've 

mentioned, plaintiff --

THE COURT: I never like "all due respect" prefaces 

because something always follows that's not respectful but go 

ahead. 

MS. AMJAD: Plaintiff has moved for leave to file a 

second amended complaint. The District Court -- the District 

Court Judge has not yet ruled on that. The parties are 

briefing it. I simply am unsure how there could be party 

depositions when there's not a new complaint on file. 

MR. GAIR: Judge, there's a complaint on file that 

names all three of these. That complaint --

THE COURT: We're going to move ahead with the 

depositions, okay. What's going on in the District Court, 

you know, and entering and continuing on this thorny issue 

indefinitely is not on my schedule today, guys. 

I want to try and get Hall who has been quite 

elusive and reluctant, to say to least, to sit for a 

reasonable time for depositions. Five days sounds excessive 

when you can't even pin this guy down for one day. Now I've 

got a date for the 11th. You know, let's take two more days 

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Case: 1:12-cv-05836 Document #: 139 Filed: 04/07/14 Page 9 of 16 PageID #:1184
and call it a day, you know. I mean, you want a decision, 

I'll give you a decision. Speak now or forever hold your 

peace. 

MR. GAIR: Your Honor -- 

THE COURT: I'm little up to here with Dr. Hall, 

too -- 

MS. AMJAD: Your Honor -- 

THE COURT: -- and his elitist attitude that he 

doesn't have to participate in the depositions especially 

since he's a 30(b)(6) deponent so what can we do? 

MS. AMJAD: Your Honor, since we were here last, 

we've not said to plaintiff that we're not going to produce 

Dr. Hall. 

THE COURT: Okay. 

MS. AMJAD: Things have not changed since February 

11th so it's very good.

THE COURT: Good. So let's agree on what we're 

going to do right now. 

MS. AMJAD: Sure. 

MR. GAIR: Your Honor, my request -- 

THE COURT: March 11, 2014, he's available all day. 

MS. AMJAD: Yes. That's correct. 

MR. GAIR: Yes, your Honor. 

THE COURT: Okay. What are two other dates? 

MS. AMJAD: I can certainly check with Dr. Hall or 

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Case: 1:12-cv-05836 Document #: 139 Filed: 04/07/14 Page 10 of 16 PageID #:1185
honestly -- 

THE COURT: I'll order some dates and -- 

MS. AMJAD: That's fine, your Honor. It was not -- 

that was not what the motion for contempt was for today so I 

wasn't ready. 

THE COURT: I'm denying the motion for contempt or 

to recommend contempt to Judge Dow but without prejudice and 

with leave to reinstate if he keeps playing games with his 

opponents. 

MS. AMJAD: Your Honor, he's not playing games. 

They have not asked us yet to schedule those depositions. 

The only thing I would ask is, if his depositions, his party 

depositions get scheduled prior to the second amended 

complaint being on file, I would simply ask that plaintiffs 

not be able to re-depose him then when a new complaint is on 

file. 

THE COURT: I'm not going to make a ruling one way 

or another on that, you guys. I mean -- you know. 

MR. GAIR: Judge, I can probably make this easy. 

THE COURT: How does the amended complaint -- 

MR. GAIR: I can make --

THE COURT: Hold on, Mr. Gair. How would the 

amended complaint change the legal landscape and would you -- 

MS. AMJAD: It has nine extra counts, your Honor. 

MR. GAIR: It's all arising out of the same 

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Case: 1:12-cv-05836 Document #: 139 Filed: 04/07/14 Page 11 of 16 PageID #:1186
operative facts. We're not going to ask the Court for 

another deposition if the amended complaint is granted, which 

I'm quite -- well, I won't predict what Judge Dow will do. 

But this -- look, Judge, not only have we asked for these 

other dates, we have asked in the motion that is before the 

Court specifically for the relief of asking -- setting dates 

between May 1st and June 15th for Hall -- for the various 

depositions of the parties and the 30(b)(6) witnesses. 

That's all we want. 

THE COURT: Okay. I don't want to stop until I've 

heard from everyone. Go ahead. 

MS. AMJAD: We have no problem with that, your 

Honor. We can provide to plaintiff's counsel today those 

dates. Is your Honor suggesting that we provide three or 

two? 

THE COURT: Three. 

MS. AMJAD: Okay. 

THE COURT: Because I'm going to provide the three. 

And if you are able to by agreement provide alternatives -- 

we've already got the 11th -- so I'm going to say the 11th, 

12th, and 13th. Okay? 

MR. GAIR: Well, Judge, we are still fighting over 

document discovery and so the 11th, 12th, and 13th, we're not 

going to be ready to take the plaintiff's deposition until we 

have some of the documents and that's why we've asked 

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Case: 1:12-cv-05836 Document #: 139 Filed: 04/07/14 Page 12 of 16 PageID #:1187
for what I think -- 

THE COURT: I thought he was set for the 11th? 

MR. GAIR: He is for one company. He's a 30(b)(6) 

witness for a non-party. But for the two party companies and 

for himself, we would like to set dates that are fair to 

everybody starting in May and going through early June just 

so that we can get this done in a reasonable fashion; not 

wait until June right before discovery is closed and then 

come asking the Court and whining and saying we've haven't 

taken his deposition yet. 

THE COURT: Ms. Amjad, what do you propose? 

MS. AMJAD: Your Honor, I certainly was not planning 

to wait until June and come back to the Court. This is 

precisely why --

THE COURT: I understand. Let's just resolve it, 

okay? I've indicated the areas of my displeasure, that is, 

with this whole process being so contentious. I think 

three -- three dates are reasonable, more than reasonable, 

you know, and particularly based on Mr. Gair's representation 

that not all of the entities need all of the time involved, 

you know, I mean, they can team up and come in and -- you 

know, two of these entities can do it in one day, two in 

another day and then you can take his personal dep on the 

3rd. That's really it. 

So do you want to talk to Hall and determine whether 

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Case: 1:12-cv-05836 Document #: 139 Filed: 04/07/14 Page 13 of 16 PageID #:1188
it's three days in a row or three days that are -- do you 

want a cutoff date? I mean, I'm willing to consider whatever 

you've got. 

MS. AMJAD: I'd prefer not to have -- 

THE COURT: But I'm not going to revisit this whole 

mess again. 

MS. AMJAD: Sure. 

THE COURT: I'm just going to arbitrarily order 

three days; and if he doesn't comply, then I will entertain 

their motion for whatever sanctions -- 

MS. AMJAD: I think --

THE COURT: -- are available. 

MS. AMJAD: I think we would prefer not having three 

dates in a row. 

THE COURT: Okay. 

MS. AMJAD: I don't know if plaintiff's counsel has 

a preference on that but --

THE COURT: All right. 

MR. GAIR: Right. As I've just explained, I think 

that we ought to do March 11th and then other dates in May so 

that we can have documents to -- 

THE COURT: Fine. Hold the March 11th date and then 

consult with your client and determine which two days, not 

whether, which two days in May he can devote to his 

obligation to sit for his deposition. 

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Case: 1:12-cv-05836 Document #: 139 Filed: 04/07/14 Page 14 of 16 PageID #:1189
MS. GAIR: Absolutely. 

THE COURT: And if he has to cancel some surgeries, 

well, you know, sorry but the world will begin to turn anew 

the next day and he'll be back on the job, you know, because 

that's where we were last time and -- 

MS. AMJAD: Right.

THE COURT: And it was -- 

MS. AMJAD: And, your Honor, nothing's changed. We 

had advised counsel last time that Dr. Hall would make 

himself available and he had just said that it would wait 

until after March 11th but -- 

THE COURT: Okay. March 11th and two days in May. 

MR. GAIR: Thank you, your Honor. 

THE COURT: Mr. Gair. Okay. Are we gonna -- you 

know, I don't want to get a big, fat filing in two weeks 

and -- you know. Let's move on to the substance of the case. 

I got great lawyers in front of me, you know. 

MR. GAIR: I don't -- I don't blame you and I agree 

with you that our opponent is a great lawyer. This has 

nothing to do with the dispute among the lawyers in my 

judgment, your Honor, but we will try our best to bring this 

case to the conclusion of discovery so we can have a trial. 

THE COURT: Mr. Sprengnether, Mr. Heisler, anything 

to add or are you just content to let these two fight it out? 

MR. SPRENGNETHER: I intend to let them fight, your 

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Case: 1:12-cv-05836 Document #: 139 Filed: 04/07/14 Page 15 of 16 PageID #:1190
Honor. 

THE COURT: He who fights and runs away shall live, 

too. To live another day. 

MR. SPRENGNETHER: This gray hair is -- I've learned 

a lot in 40 years of doing this. 

THE COURT: Okay. 

UNIDENTIFIED MALE SPEAKER: Thank you, your Honor. 

MS. AMJAD: Thank you, your Honor. 

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Thank you, your Honor.

THE COURT: Okay. Can we agree? Are we all set? 

MS. AMJAD: Yes. 

THE COURT: All right. The motion to hold Dr. Hall 

in contempt is denied without prejudice. Okay. 

MS. AMJAD: Thank you, your Honor. 

MR. GAIR: Thank you, your Honor. 

COURTROOM DEPUTY: Court's in recess until 10:30.

(Which concluded the proceedings in the above-entitled 

matter.) 

C E R T I F I C A T E

I hereby certify that the foregoing is a 

transcription of proceedings transcribed from digital 

proceedings held before the Honorable Daniel G. Martin on 

March 6, 2014. 

/s/Laura LaCien

________________________ March 7, 2014 

Laura LaCien Date 

Official Court Reporter 

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Case: 1:12-cv-05836 Document #: 139 Filed: 04/07/14 Page 16 of 16 PageID #:1191