Court Resolves Dispute Regarding Scope of Discovery, Addresses Search Terms, Custodians, and Backup Tapes
Helmert v. Butterball, LLC, 2010 WL 2179180 (E.D. Ark. May 27, 2010)
In this collective action brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act, plaintiffs and defendant reached significant impasse regarding the appropriate scope of discovery, including disagreement regarding search terms, the number and identity of custodians, the sources of data to be searched, and who should bear the costs. Resolving each issue in turn, the court’s discussion focused in large part upon weighing the burden of plaintiffs’ requests against the potential to discover relevant information, including a discussion of the discoverability of backup tapes. The court also declined to shift the costs of production.