The legal team for Dr. George Maylin and Medina Spirit’s connections on August 1 lost an attempt at the state Supreme Court in Tompkins County, New York to block the enforcement of the subpoena against Maylin to create a research profile relating to his research on Medina Spirit after the betamethasone-positive race after the 2021 Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (G1).
Judge Elizabeth Aherne accepted an application filed by the Kentucky Equestrian Commission to enforce the subpoena and ordered Maylin to turn over the research material, subject to a protective order that would limit its release.
Craig Robertson, attorney for coach Bob Baffert and Maylin attorney Joseph Farraldo fought fiercely against KHRC’s lawsuit. Robertson, in a brief filing filed with the Aherne court, described KHRC’s attempt to enforce the subpoena as “astonishingly misleading and utterly worthless”, writing that the Maylin is “totally irrelevant” and adds that “this is par for the course for an agency that has consistently demonstrated a willingness to ignore facts in order to achieve the desired outcome.”
Aherne maintained enforcement of the order granting the subpoena for 10 days to allow time for the parties to request KHRC hearing officer Clay Patrick, who signed the subpoena in the first place. April 8, to cancel or amend the subpoena. Zedan’s company, which owned Medina Spirit before his death in December, has not filed papers in the New York case but is a party to it.
Aherne’s order states that the KHRC followed appropriate legal procedures to enforce the Kentucky subpoena in New York, and that Maylin complied in part by being ousted and providing numerous documents; however, he staunchly refused to turn over material from a study he described in the initial disclosure of his findings when he reported that analyzes of the species Salve Otomax were found in a sample Urine obtained from Medina Spirit and two thoroughbred research horses.
“These analytes were discovered during topical application of OTOMAX to two thoroughbred study horses,” Maylin wrote in a December 3 letter to KHRC and Baffert attorneys under the heading of New York Equine Research and Drug Testing Laboratory. “Analytical data to support these findings and metabolism and excretion studies are available for review by a specialist scientist in our Ithaca Laboratory. We consider this a project The research project will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal and as such is confidential until the data has been submitted for review.”
In Kentucky, secrecy and privilege are two different things in the legal world. For example, a patient’s medical records are confidential, but if relevant, they are not privileged to be disclosed in a lawsuit that questions the patient’s medical condition. However, in a dismissal in June, Maylin flatly refused to agree to release the research data despite being served with a subpoena.
If the subpoena is upheld and Maylin remains defiant, it wouldn’t be surprising if KHRC prosecutor Jennifer Wolsing, who represented KHRC in the New York case, asks Patrick to exclude the opinion. of Maylin from evidence in Zedan and Baffert’s appeal.
If Maylin objects, experts hired by KHRC prosecutors will request time to examine the documents and provide lawyers for Zedan and Baffert to examine any criticism they have about it. . Whether that will lead to another adjournment is anyone’s guess, but the likelihood of a postponement increases.
