Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmace v. David R. Herndon

Petitioners are not entitled to any mandamus relief from the portion of the district court’s sanctions order requiring them to produce thirteen employees based in Germany for depositions in the United States. The writ is being misused here to obtain immediate appellate review of an interlocutory discovery sanction. The defendant-petitioners even admit as much. They have told us they filed for the writ because they were simply unwilling to annoy the district judge further by inviting an appealable contempt sanction.

On the merits, the defendant-petitioners have failed to show a clear and…