The plaintiff brought a motion seeking further documentary production and access to the defendants' hard drives, alleging that the defendants withheld relevant emails regarding an alleged oral agreement for a 20% interest in a business.
The court dismissed the motion, finding that the plaintiff failed to provide an evidentiary basis to show that the requested documents actually existed or were relevant to the pleadings.
The court held that a party cannot rely on mere suspicion or engage in a fishing expedition to force a responding party to prove a negative.
Costs were awarded to the defendants on a partial indemnity scale.
