Justice Donna M. Mills
An action involved the sale by defendants of Hydra Platforms Mfg. Inc., a manufacturer of specialized equipment for underbridge inspection and work, to Terex Corporation. The plaintiffs alleged that the defendants breached the sales agreement and engaged in prohibited competitive activity. They claimed the defendants engaged in certain off-book sales, rentals and buy-back agreements, which they failed to record. The plaintiffs sought to take the testimony of various out-of-state witnesses. The court denied the defendants’ motion seeking the vacatur of the plaintiffs’ notices of depositions of the non-party non-residents, disagreeing with their argument that the letters sent to the witnesses were threatening, but merely contained the boilerplate language used in such correspondence. In addition, since oral interrogation is a more effective method for eliciting information at an examination before trial, where the non-party witnesses are going to be questioned about the alleged improper transactions, the court held that plaintiffs should be permitted to proceed by the use of oral questions as opposed to written questions.
