Court Denies Motion Requiring Defendant to Allow Plaintiff onto Premises for Collection of Electronic Material

Bethea v. Comcast, 218 F.R.D. 328 (D.D.C. 2003)

Plaintiff in an employment discrimination suit moved for an order compelling defendants to allow her to enter upon their premises, inspect their computer systems and related programs, and copy any information relevant to her claims. Plaintiff was dissatisfied with the results of the discovery process and suspected that defendants possessed more information than they had produced.

The court denied the motion, finding that the plaintiff was merely speculating that additional documents existed and that defendants had unlawfully failed to produce them. “[A] party’s suspicion that another party has failed to respond to document requests fully and completely does not justify compelled inspection of its computer systems.” 218 F.R.D. at 330.