April 19, 2006 – Electronic Discovery Law

Court Warns Plaintiff that Further Noncompliance with Discovery Orders Could Result in Terminating Sanctions, and Orders Plaintiff to Produce Emails with Attachments Physically Attached

Apr 19 2006

Miller v. IBM, 2006 WL 995160 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 14, 2006)

In this case involving breach of contract and fraud claims, IBM moved to preclude plaintiff Ralph Miller from offering evidence on any of the matters for which he had failed to comply with the court’s previous discovery orders. The court granted in part and denied in part IBM’s motion for sanctions, and warned that further noncompliance could result in terminating sanctions. Several of the matters on which the court granted relief related to electronic discovery. Read More

Plaintiff Ordered to Allow Inspection of Computer Hard Drive and Allow Informal Interviews Regarding Computer’s Temporary Misplacement

Apr 19 2006

Performance Chevrolet, Inc. v. Market Scan Info. Sys., Inc., 2006 WL 980727 (D. Idaho Apr. 11, 2006)

In this case, plaintiff sued the defendant for breach of contract and fraud, claiming that the software it had leased never worked as promised. After part of the case was resolved on summary judgment, the main issue for trial, scheduled to commence the following week, was whether the software worked as promised. One of defendant’s defenses was that plaintiff was not using the software properly; to pursue this defense, it needed to inspect plaintiff’s computer system to see how the software was working. Read More

Ret. SF Superior Court Judge Praises E-Discovery Case Database

Apr 19 2006

In an email to Martha Dawson last week, Hon. Richard E. Best provided his compliments and thanks to Preston Gates for publishing and maintaining our electronic discovery case database.

“What makes [the database] even better is the accuracy and precision in which cases are summarized. The site is not only a tribute to Preston Gates but a valuable contribution to lawyers throughout the nation who are just getting up to par on this topic. It is in my opinion an example of the best attributes of our profession where lawyers help lawyers to improve the competence of the profession as a whole.”

Judge Best is a retired 29-year San Francisco Superior Court judge who is most commonly associated with law and motion hearings involving civil discovery. Today, he is a discovery consultant and private judge, as well as a commentator and frequent speaker on electronic discovery issues. His website, California Civil Discovery Law, can be found here.

On behalf of everyone at Preston Gates: thank you!

Archive - April 19, 2006