Court Sets Out Detailed “Directives” for Production of Electronically Stored Information

In re Priceline.com Inc. Sec. Litig., 233 F.R.D. 88 (D. Conn. 2005)

In this securities class action, plaintiffs brought a motion to compel the production of electronically stored information. Although the defendants did not object to producing responsive information, there was substantial disagreement between the parties regarding how responsive information should be produced. The court’s decision sets out detailed e-discovery “directives” for the parties to follow. In one of the directives, the court rejects plaintiffs’ request that material be produced in native format, and orders defendants to produce responsive information contained in stored data files to plaintiffs in TIFF or PDF form with Bates numbering and appropriate confidentiality designations, and to produce searchable metadata databases, and also to maintain the original data itself in native format for the duration of the litigation. The court also states that “[c]ost-shifting shall be applied for in the method set forth in the proposed revisions to Rule 26(b)(2) and the Committee Note attendant thereto.”