Venator v. Interstate Res., Inc., No. CV 415-086, 2016 WL 1574090 (S.D. Ga. Apr. 15, 2016)

Key Insight: Court found defense counsel had committed two violations of Rule 26(g)?s obligation to conduct a reasonable inquiry where counsel simply provided discovery requests to Defendant?s HR manager who conducted an independent, but ultimately inadequate, search for responsive information and failed to properly supervise the search, involve the IT Department (a best practice, according to the court), or follow up to ensure the search was adequate. Discussing the lack of a ?reasonable inquiry,? the court instructed that a non-lawyer will typically require more guidance than merely providing the requests at-issue and noted that ?attorneys have a post-investigation obligation to make sure all responsive information is provided.? Court ordered counsel to pay the reasonable expenses and fees associated with the motion for sanctions and for Defendant to pay $1000 but declined further sanctions where Defendant supplemented its response to discovery when additional responsive information was located.

Nature of Case: Claims arising from an industrial accident

Electronic Data Involved: Emails, ESI