On November 30th, Plaintiffs filed a Motion for Expedited Discovery in the case of International Brominated Solvents Association and Aerosafe Products, Inc. v. ACGIH, Department of Labor (DOL), and Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). ACGIH^® opposed the motion.

The Motion for Expedited Discovery asked that ACGIH^® turn over all of its records, documents, etc. relating to the four substances in question in the case or relating to ACGIH^®'s conflict of interest policies as it relates to the Committee members and/or Board members who dealt with these substances. Under expedited discovery, ACGIH^® would have had to provide this information prior to January 1, 2005. In addition, the motion asked that depositions of key ACGIH^® staff, Documentation authors, Committee members, and Board members be held in January.

If the motion was granted, ACGIH^® would have had to take discovery of the Plaintiffs in the same time period. The amount of work involved would have been monumental, especially considering the holiday timing of the suit.

On the afternoon of December 1st, Judge Duross Fitzpatrick of the United States District Court in Macon, Georgia held a telephone hearing in the matter. After lengthy discussion, the Court denied the Plaintiffs' Motion.

Posted December 8, 2004