Starbucks’ Discovery Fights Stall Labor Injunction Cases (1)

Starbucks Corp.’s push for discovery while defending against NLRB requests for federal court orders against the company has sparked disputes and delays as it vies for access to evidence typically unavailable in administrative proceedings.

The company’s aggressive discovery strategy is an outlier in litigation over injunctions sought by National Labor Relations Board regional directors, which are meant to preserve the status quo during underlying administrative cases.

Federal judges issued non-routine discovery orders in four of the five injunction cases that the agency brought against the coffee chain last year.

Federal district courts have issued discovery orders in just three ...