In litigation, whoever gets to the truth first wins.
What really happened? That’s the only question a litigator should be asking themselves as they assess a case.
Too often lawyers get focused on trying to prove their side is right and lose track of their responsibility to understand the truth and guide their client accordingly– to fight hard when they’re right, and to resolve when they’re wrong.
But what a lawyer should always be cautious of is trying to hide or obscure the truth.
Consider the case of D’Agostino v. Circle K, 2026 WL 1660344 (D. Az. June 9, 2026).
There Plaintiff sued Circle K for sending over 300 marketing messages to his phone. Circle K claims it sent the messages because he visited their store, bought some cigarettes, and provided his number on their POS. Plaintiff denies this.
To prove their case– i.e. to get to the truth– Circle K issued subpoenas to three banks that issued credit cards used in the transactions Circle K contends took place. The subpoenas sought the name of the accountholder of the cards.
Now if it wasn’t the plaintiff that provided the phone number during these transactions you would think the Plaintiff would LOVE to see this subpoena– it will show that the accountholder of the card used during the transaction Circle K contends lead to the phone calls was not Plaintiff, which would be very helpful to Plaintiff’s case.
But Plaintiff objected to the subpoena. He moved to quash the subpoena arguing it was overly broad and improper procedurally.
The court obviously raised an eyebrow at this. It denied the motion finding Plaintiff lacked standing to object to the subpoena since he never conceded Circle K sought his personal information.
In other words Plaintiff was stuck in a trap– he either had to admit he was the cardholder (in which case Circle K just basically won its case) or he had to deny being the cardholder but then lose standing to oppose the subpoena.
In the end Circle K will get its records and Plaintiff’s name will either be on the accounts or it won’t– either way the truth will be known and the case will have progressed much closer to a conclusion.
Interesting, no?
Chat soon!