Silence may be considered golden, but for one former NLJ 500 attorney in Chicago, it also turned out to be costly.
On April 29, U.S. District Judge Virginia M. Kendall for the Northern District of Illinois granted plaintiff Wendelle E. Weaver’s motion for over $7,500 in sanctions against Robert Ayres, an associate at Cassiday Schade. Ayres, who is no longer listed on the firm’s site, allegedly violated Rule 30 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure when he told his client, Dr. Rozel Elazegui, during a deposition not to answer any questions about a related case. Kendall said Ayres’ actions did not have a good faith basis for delaying the deposition and did not follow civil procedure requirements to obtain a court order limiting his client’s testimony either during or after the deposition in the case captioned Weaver v. Henzie.