eDiscovery Import – Page 88 – Electronic Discovery Law

Registe v. State, No. S12A1190, 2012 WL 5381248 (Ga. Nov. 5, 2012)

Dec 01 2012

Key Insight: Court found cell phone provider?s voluntary release of non-content records was supported by good faith belief that there was an ongoing emergency where the company received information from the police that its records could help to identify an ?at-large suspect of a double homicide committed within a day of the request and that the suspect presented a present and immediate danger? and thus the release of records complied with the Stored Communications Act and a motion to suppress was properly denied

Nature of Case: Double murder

Electronic Data Involved: Cell Phone records

United States v. Hamilton, 701 F.3d 404 (4th Cir. 2012)

Dec 01 2012

Key Insight: Use of work email waived marital privileged where, despite the lack of a computer usage policy at the time the emails were sent, the policy in effect at the time of the investigation stated that there was no expectation of privacy as to emails sent, received, accessed or STORED on the system and where the defendant ?did not take any steps to protect the emails in question, even after he was on notice of his employer?s policy permitting inspection of emails stored on the system at the employer?s discretion.?

Nature of Case: Criminal

Electronic Data Involved: Emails sent from workplace computer

Fisher v. Fisher, No. WDQ-11-11038, 2012 WL 2050785 (D. Md. June 5, 2012)

Dec 01 2012

Key Insight: After carefully laying out the law surrounding document requests/productions, court evaluated plaintiff?s motion to compel and, invoking principles of proportionality, granted in part and denied in part the motion

Electronic Data Involved: ESI

Phillip M. Adam & Assocs. V. Dell Computer Corp., No. 2012-1238, 2013 WL 1092719 (Fed. Cir. Mar. 18, 2012)

Dec 01 2012

Key Insight: Circuit court found that the district court erred in imposing an adverse inference for failure to preserve absent evidence of bad faith and thus reversed the district court?s imposition of an adverse inference sanction

Nature of Case: Patent Infringement

Electronic Data Involved: Source Code

Roxane Labs. Inc. v. Abbot Labs., No. 2:12-cv-312, 2013 WL 1829569 (S.D. Ohio Apr. 30, 2012)

Dec 01 2012

Key Insight: Where Plaintiff argued that production of the requested ESI would be unduly burdensome because of the lack of a ?centralized electronic document system? which would require it to ask ?hundreds of employees to search their electronic documents,? and would require ?significant effort to review and produce,? and where Plaintiff also argued that a 30(b)(6) deposition would be a less burdensome method of obtaining discovery, the court noted the lack of information provided to establish the burden alleged and reasoned that ?the mere fact that a party does not have a centralized electronic document system? does not establish undue burden and granted defendant?s motion to compel

Nature of Case: Patent litigation seeking declaratory judgment of invalidity and noninfringement

Electronic Data Involved: ESI

Townsend v. Ohio Dept. of Transp., No. 11AP-672, 2012 WL 2467047 (Ohio Ct. App. June 28, 2012)

Dec 01 2012

Key Insight: Trial court abused its discretion in denying motion to conduct forensic analysis of defendant?s email and electronic data systems where defendant?s employee admitted to sending a highly relevant email that was never produced and where defendant failed to establish that production ?would incur undue burden or expense?; court?s analysis included consideration of whether deleted emails were discoverable (yes) and the need for a protocol to protect the producing party?s privilege, confidential information

Nature of Case: Personal injury resulting from auto accident

Electronic Data Involved: Email

Finnerty v. Stiefel Labs. Inc., 900 F. Supp. 2d 1317 (S.D. Fla. 2012)

Dec 01 2012

Key Insight: Court held that costs related to the creation of an electronic database solely for the benefit of Plaintiff?s counsel were not taxable as fees for exemplification

Nature of Case: Securities fraud

Electronic Data Involved: Taxable costs

Chura v. Delmar Gardens of Lenexa, Inc., No. 11-2090-CM-DJW, 2012 WL 940270 (D. Kan. Mar. 20, 2012)

Dec 01 2012

Key Insight: Court found that ?Defendant?s failure to produce any ESI, such as emails, attachments, exhibits, and word processing documents raise[d] justifiable concerns that Defendant may have 1) failed to preserve relevant evidence, or 2) failed to conduct a reasonable search for ESI responsive to Plaintiff?s discovery requests? and thus scheduled an evidentiary hearing and ordered Defendant to be prepared to present evidence on its preservation and search efforts (specific topics identified in court?s order)

Nature of Case: Employment discrimination

Electronic Data Involved: Miscellaneous ESI

Colgate-Palmolive Co. v. Tandem Indus., 485 Fed. Appx. 516 (3d Cir. 2012)

Dec 01 2012

Key Insight: Considering Defendant?s argument for an adverse inference where his former employer failed to produce his former work laptop and files, the court noted that the ?undisputed evidence show[ed] that Colgate destroyed the data on the laptop shortly after Flower?s retirement,? and concluded that: ?When data is destroyed pursuant to normal recordkeeping practices (and in particular when it is destroyed in relation to a major event like an employee?s retirement), no adverse inference is warranted.?

Nature of Case: Breach of fiduciary duty

Electronic Data Involved: Laptop and its files

Abbot Point of Care, Inc. v. Epocal, Inc., No. CV-08-S-543-NE, 2012 WL 7810970 (N.D. Ala. Nov. 5, 2012)

Dec 01 2012

Key Insight: Court declined to allow recovery of costs related to maintenance of an electronic discovery database but allowed recovery of costs related to ?processing of electronic documents, including conversion of native files to ?TIFF? format for production to Abbott; conversion of document[s] from ?TIFF? format to a searchable format; importing and loading of documents to an electronic database; production of electronic documents; and the associated project and technical support?

Electronic Data Involved: ESI taxable costs

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