Theatrical producer Hays was a defendant in a suit before the Delaware courts. The Supreme Court's recent decision in that case includes an amazing addendum in which it quotes at length from a deposition Hays gave in the case. The deposition has to be read to get a true sense of just how bizarre Hays' conduct was, but suffice it to quote the Court's description of her "ridiculous and problematic responses to questions." The court also takes to task Hay's lawyer, "Brian T. Frawley, a partner with Sullivan & Cromwell LLP," who "took the lead in defending Hays’s deposition" and "made no attempt to put an end to Hays’s flagrantly evasive, nonresponsive, and flippant answers." This, despite the Court's observation that, "An attorney representing a client who engages in such behavior during the course of a deposition cannot simply be a spectator and do nothing."
One is left to wonder whether Hays is really the very odd person the deposition makes her out to be or whether this is just some crazy litigation she came up with and, if the latter, whether her lawyer was a party to that strategy.
The Delaware Court of Chancery held that Hays "willfully gave nonsensical and nonresponsive answers," which the Court held "constitutes bad faith litigation tactics." The Court therefore awarded the plaintiff "attorneys' fees and costs incurred in connection with taking Carole's deposition." CSH Theatres, L.L.C. v. Nederlander of San Francisco Associates, CV 9380-VCMR, 2018 WL 3646817, at *31 (Del. Ch. July 31, 2018), reconsideration denied, (Del. Ch. 2018), and aff'd in part, rev'd in part sub nom. In re Shorenstein Hays-Nederlander Theatres LLC Appeals, 596, 2018, 2019 WL 2531162 (Del. June 20, 2019)
I just hope there's a video of that deposition floating around somewhere.
