Case 1 :07-cv-00271-JJF Document 35 Filed 1 1/05/2007 Page 1 of 3
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF DELAWARE _
JOE GANO, )
Plaintiff ) Case No. 07-271
) 2
DONALD MARK EHART, and ) l
SPREAD EAGLE, INC., a Delaware )
Corporation formerly known as Red Eagle ) `
Avionics, Inc. )
DEFENDANTS’ RESPONSE IN SUPPORT OF THE MOTION OF
THE FAMILY COURT OF DELAWARE TO QUASH
SUBPOENA FOR CONFIDENTIAL RECORDS
Defendants Donald Mark Ehart and Spread Eagle, Inc., by and through their
counsel, Cross & Simon, LLC, hereby file this Response in Support of the Motion of the
Family Court of Delaware to Quash Subpoena for Contidential Records ("Motion to
Quash"), agreeing the Motion to Quash, and in support thereof respectfully state as
follows:
1. Defendants support the Family Court’s Motion to Quash. The documents
5 sought by Plaintiff are not relevant to this litigation. Furthermore the documents
requested are privileged pursuant to Family Court Rule 45 (c)(3)(A)(iii) and Donald
Mark Ehart does not waive the privilege. I
2. Mary Beth Ehart ("Mrs. Ehartâ€) and Donald Mark Ehart ("Mr. Ehartâ€)
were divorced in 1998. The business assets of Red Eagle Avionics, Inc. ("Red Eagleâ€)
- were sold to David Cannavo ("Cannavo") on January 1, 2006. Due to the approximate
eight (8) year gap in time, Mr. Ehart’s opinion of the value of Red Eagle at the time of
I Defendants are not required to respond to the Motion to Quash but do so only out of an abundance of
caution.
Case 1 :07-cv-00271-JJF Document 35 Filed 1 1/05/2007 Page 2 of 3 I
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the divorce is irrelevant to the value of Red Eagle at the time its assets were sold to
Cannavo.
3. Pursuant to several child support modification hearings held in 2002 and
2003, the Court reduced the amount of support Mr. Ehart was required to pay. Plaintiff
claims that during the child support modification hearings, Mr. Ehart made
representations about the value of Red Eagle and that he contended Red Eagle was not
doing well. 2
4. According to Mrs. Ehart’s testimony, Mr. Ehart made no representations
about the value of Red Eagle Avionics during the 2002 and 2003 child support I
modification hearings. 3 Furthermore, even if the Court assumes that Mr. Ehart
represented that Red Eagle was not doing well in the 2002 and/or 2003 child support
modification hearings, that testimony is irrelevant to sale of Red Eagle’s assets in January
2006.
5. Both parties must waive privilege for the waiver to be effective. To date, i
neither Mrs. Ehart nor Mr. Ehart has agreed to waive the privilege.
6. Furthermore, it is unreasonable to propose that Plaintiff and Defendants
sign a Confidentiality Agreement as it will not adequately protect either Mr. Ehart’s or
Mrs. Ehart’s privacy.
7. Due to the privileged nature of the Family Court proceedings, the
unlikelihood that the information sought by Plaintiff is contained in the Family Court file,
and the broad range of documents sought by Plaintiff, it is unreasonable and unnecessary
to give Plaintiff access to the requested Family Court documents.
2 Plaintiff claims to get this information from Mrs. Ehart’s deposition in the related Chancery Court case,
C.A. 2379—VCS.
3 See Mary Beth Ehart Dep.
Case 1:07-cv-00271-JJF Document 35 Filed 11/05/2007 Page 3 of 3
VVHEREFORE, Defendants support the Family Court of the State of Delaware in
l seeking an Order of this Court quashing the subpoena issued by the Plaintiff, for the
reasons set forth above.
CROSS
Richard H. Cross, Jr. (No. 3576)
Tara M. DiRocco (No. 4699)
913 North Market Street
llth Floor
Wilmington, Delaware 19801
302—777—4200
302-777-4224 (fax)
tdirocco@,cross1aw.com
Counsel for Defendant
Dated: November 5, 2007
Case 1 :07-cv-00271-JJF Document 35-2 Filed 1 1/05/2007 Page 1 of 1
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A CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I, Tara M. DiRocco, hereby certitir that on November 5, 2007 a true and correct 1
copy of Defendants’ Response in Support of the Motion of The Family Court of
Delaware to Quash Subpoena for Confidential Records was served upon the
following individuals in the manner indicated.
VIA HAND DELVIERY VIA FIRST CLASS MAIL
Sophia Siddiqui, Esquire Wendy G. Rothstein, Esquire
Fox Rothschild LLP Fox Rothschild LLP
Citizens Bank Center 1250 South Broad Street
I 919 N. Market Street, Suite 1300 P.O. Box 431
P.O. Box 2323 Lansdale, PA 19446-0341
Wilmington, DE 19899-2323
VIA FIRST CLASS MAIL
Todd B. Nurick, Esquire
Nurick Law Group
111 West Germantown Pike
Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462
CROSi SI LLC
Richard H. Cross, Jr. (No. 3576)
Tara M. DiRocco (No. 4699)
913 N. Market Street, llth Floor
Wilmington, Delaware 19801
(302) 777-4200
(302) 777-4224 (facsimile)
[email protected]
Dated: November 5, 2007 Counsel for Defendants