Judge hears discovery fight in Clayton County shooting case; will issue written order

Judge Tammy Long Hayward presided over a discovery hearing in Clayton County State Court's Courtroom 304 in the consolidated civil case 2024-CV-03259 involving plaintiffs Eden Teketsky and Asperon Teketsky (individually and as parents of a minor) and defendants Walmart Stores East LP, 125 Fayetteville LLC, Master Security Company LLC and Adrian Lamar Jelks.

The hearing centered on plaintiffs' motion to compel discovery from Walmart and related disputes over privilege logs, the scope and timing of document searches, personnel files and whether plaintiffs may serve additional interrogatories. Pro se defendant Adrian Lamar Jelks also presented three motions he filed: a motion to dismiss, a motion for default judgment and a motion to strike the plaintiffs' response. Judge Hayward said she would consider the motions and issue a written order.

Why it matters: the underlying case arises from a March 29, 2024, shooting in the Fayetteville Walmart store that killed former employee Antavious Holton and seriously injured 9‑year‑old Eliana Berhe. Plaintiffs allege negligent security and related claims against Walmart and vicarious liability tied to employee conduct; discovery now in dispute concerns whether Walmart has produced all relevant internal incident reports, text messages, personnel records and related communications that plaintiffs say show notice, foreseeability and failures in hiring, training or supervision.

Plaintiffs' presentation Plaintiffs' counsel Jeff Butler and Tom Gianotti summarized the facts and argued that Walmart's discovery responses have been incomplete, delayed and accompanied by boilerplate objections. Gianotti told the court that Walmart's initial discovery responses were late, a privilege log was provided only after months of delay, and that Walmart has used broad objections (attorney‑client,…