Opinion ID: 3066817
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: facts

Text: Kazuo Okada is a Japanese citizen who lives in Hong Kong and is a former member of Wynn Resorts' board of directors. Okada is also the president, secretary, and treasurer of Aruze USA, a financial holding company with its principal place of business in Tokyo. Aruze, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Universal Entertainment Corporation, a Japanese corporation, owns 20 percent of Wynn Resorts' stock. In 2010, Wynn Resorts began an investigation to determine whether Okada was engaged in business dealings in the Philippines that might render him an Unsuitable Person to be on Wynn Resorts' board of directors, which, if demonstrated, would jeopardize Wynn Resorts' entitlement to certain gaming licenses. Contemporaneous with Wynn Resorts' investigation, Okada filed suit against Wynn Resorts in Nevada state court in which he sought an order compelling Wynn Resorts to produce certain corporate documents. As part of that lawsuit, which the parties refer to as the Books and Records case, and which was randomly SUPREME COURT OF NEVADA 3 (0) 1.947A assigned to the same district court judge presiding over the underlying matter, Okada traveled to Las Vegas to be deposed. By all accounts, Okada's deposition in the Books and Records case was fraught with difficulties, based in large part on the need to translate each deposition question into Japanese and each of Okada's answers into English, the presence of a second translator to verify the accuracy of the first translator's translation, and what Wynn Resorts characterizes as obstructionist behavior on the part of Okada's attorneys. It is unclear how or if the Books and Records litigation was resolved, but by 2012, the investigation into Okada's business dealings had led Wynn Resorts' board of directors to conclude that Okada was indeed an Unsuitable Person. According to Wynn Resorts' interpretation of its articles of incorporation, this status authorized Wynn Resorts to redeem the stock shares that Okada (through Aruze and Universal) owns. Consequently, Wynn Resorts' board voted to redeem all of Okada's stock and issued him a promissory note with a value of just under $2 billion. When Okada refused Wynn Resorts' tender, Wynn Resorts instituted the underlying action against Okada, Aruze, and Universal in which Wynn Resorts asked for, among other things, a declaration that it had complied with its articles of incorporation in deeming Okada an Unsuitable Person and in forcing the redemption of his Wynn Resorts stock shares. Aruze and Universal filed counterclaims seeking, among other things, the opposite declaratory relief. Aruze also asserted claims against individual members of Wynn Resorts' board of directors, including real parties in interest Stephen Wynn and Elaine Wynn, who, in turn, asserted counterclaims against Aruze. SUPREME COURT OF NEVADA 4 (0) ]'WA e As part of the discovery process, Wynn Resorts filed a notice of deposition of Okada, which scheduled Okada's deposition in Las Vegas over the course of ten days. Okada moved for a protective order, challenging both the location and duration of the deposition. He asserted that as a defendant, his deposition should presumptively be conducted where he resides (Hong Kong) or at his codefendant companies' places of business (Tokyo) and that the deposition should not exceed three days. At a hearing on Okada's motion, Okada attempted to convince the district court that federal courts apply a presumption in favor of holding a defendant's deposition where the defendant resides or, in the case of a corporate representative being deposed, where the corporation has its principal place of business. In response, the district court expressed doubt, stating, Where do you get that? Where do you get this presumption? Because it's not how it is in Nevada State Court. Later on, the district court indicated that it might order [the parties] to go to Tokyo under certain circumstances, but this probably isn't one of them. As for the duration of the deposition, Okada argued that a ten-day deposition was excessive, pointing out that NRCP 30(d)(1) presumptively limits a deposition to 1 day of 7 hours. Okada conceded that in light of the case's factual complexities, and given the need for translators, a one-day deposition would not allow sufficient time. Consequently, Okada offered to stipulate to a three-day deposition, evidently based on the premise that the case's complexities would justify an additional day and that the need for translators would justify another additional day. In response, the district court judge observed, the [o]ne day rule hasn't applied in my court since it passed. I've suspended it in every case. The district court then proceeded to discuss with the parties SUPREME COURT OF NEVADA 5 94 1947A whether Okada's three-day proposal was feasible in light of the problems in the previous deposition in the Books and Records case. Finding that three days would be insufficient, the district court indicated that the tenday deposition in Las Vegas should proceed as scheduled but that Okada could seek to shorten it if he believed that Wynn Resorts was prolonging the deposition simply to harass him The district court also indicated that one of the ten days should be allocated to Elaine Wynn so that she could depose Okada with respect to her claims. The district court entered a written order denying Okada's motion, and Okada filed this petition for a writ of prohibition or mandamus, asking that this court direct the district court to resolve [his] Motion based on the correct legal standards This court stayed Okada's deposition pending our resolution of his petition. 2