Opinion ID: 75842
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Summary Judgment for Nippon

Text: 33 The Corporate Defendants argue that the district court erroneously assumed that they did not dispute facts alleged by Nippon, and that the district court erred in finding that MFIP, MBI, and PFH were Matthews's alter egos. They maintain that the district court erred by considering depositions which were taken in an earlier case, and by relying on unauthenticated documents. The district court noted that the defendants did not dispute most of the facts set forth by Nippon, and discounted their accounts of the disputed facts. 13 R28-295-7. The district court found that, even if [the defendants] were remotely credible, the abundant undisputed facts nevertheless mandate a plaintiff's summary judgment because they conclusively demonstrate that the MFIP, [M]B[I], P[FH], and Optima are Matthews' alter egos. R28-295-8. 34 The district court did not err by considering the depositions or by relying on the documents. Nippon submitted the eight depositions taken in the Intercredit Corp. litigation in support of its motion for summary judgment, and each deposition was filed with the district court in this case. Matthews, who was a party to Intercredit Corp., was the deponent for two of the depositions, and was provided with notice and an opportunity to attend and cross-examine each of the remaining deponents. Although neither the MFIP, MBI or PFH were parties to the Intercredit litigation, Matthews is the controlling officer of each of these corporations. Depositions are generally admissible provided that the party against whom they are admitted was present, represented, or reasonably noticed, Fed.R.Civ.P. 32(a), and are specifically allowed in consideration of summary judgment. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). A deposition taken in a different proceeding is admissible if the party against whom it is offered was provided with an opportunity to examine the deponent. Fed. R.Evid. 804(b)(1). Further, although the Corporate Defendants maintain that the district court improperly considered an unauthenticated signature card for a PFH account, R16-226, Ex. 28, the card was authenticated by the affidavit of Jewell Nutter. R15-228, Ex. 9. 35