In re VERP Inv., LLC, 457 S.W.3d 255 (Tex. Ct. App. 2015)

Key Insight: Trial court abused its discretion by ordering forensic examination of landlord?s hard drive where ?[t]he procedural protections identified in In re Weekley Homes require that ?the requesting party must show that the responding party has somehow defaulted in its obligation to search its records and produce the requested data,? and that ?the responding party?s production ?has been inadequate and that a search of the opponent?s [electronic storage device] could recover … relevant materials[],?? where the tenant provided no evidentiary basis for his suspicion that the at-issue invoices were falsified, and where the tenant ?did not put on any evidence demonstrating that the kind of information he sought could be retrieved by the examination ultimately ordered by the trial court and the record [wa]s devoid of any attempt by Nguyen to explain this search methodology except for his counsel?s explanation that the search would attempt to exclude communications with counsel?

Electronic Data Involved: Accounting-related ESI