Key Insight: Defendant refused to copy cards that plaintiff had reviewed and selected. By producing the index cards, forfeited relevance objections
Electronic Data Involved: index cards
Keywords: relevance
Youngevity International Corp. v. Smith (Southern District California, 2017)
Key Insight: Lost ESI claim failed because there was no proof anything was lost and there was no clear duty to preserve.
Nature of Case: Misappropriation of trade secrets
Electronic Data Involved: archived email, facebook posts
Keywords: spoliation, lost ESI, duty to preserve
Coward v. Forestar Realty, Inc., 4:15-cv-0245-HLM (N.D. Georgia, Rome Division, 2017)
Key Insight: Plaintiffs unable to access password protected video camera offered hard drive to Defendants; Court held inaccessible videos were spoliated.
Nature of Case: property damage claim
Electronic Data Involved: videos
Keywords: spoliation, prejudice, sanctions, adverse inference, attorney’s fees
Holick v. Burkhart ( No. 16-1188-JTM (D. Kan. Nov. 30, 2017), 2017)
Key Insight: Plaintiff did not specify whether any documents were being withheld in the course of making objections to discovery motions
Nature of Case: libel, assault, slander
Electronic Data Involved: documents and communications posted or stored on social media, e-mails
Keywords: “facially overbroad”, “anti-abortion”, “nearly two-decade time frame”, “provide any responsive information for the past seven (7) years”
Knight Capital Partners Corp. v. Henkel AG & Company, KGaA, No. 16-12022 (E.D. Mich. Nov. 30, 2017).
Key Insight: German defendant objected to discovery on basis of German Data Protection Laws. Court ruled that legal claim outweighed data protection.
Nature of Case: Tortious interference with business, breach of non-disclosure
Electronic Data Involved: German Business Records
Keywords: foreign company, data protection
Gottesman v. Santana, No. 16-cv-2902 JLS (JLB) (S.D. Cal. Nov. 29, 2017)
Key Insight: statute of limitations, proportionality
Nature of Case: copyright infringement
Electronic Data Involved: financial information
Keywords: meeting of the minds, statute of limitations, undue burden, amount in controversy
Marsteller v. Butterfield 8 Stamford LLC, et al. – 3:17-cv-01371 (District of Connecticut, 2017)
Key Insight: scope of discovery
Nature of Case: sexual harassment and retaliation under Title VII
Electronic Data Involved: authorization for medical records and access to social media accounts
Keywords: social media accounts, authorization for medical records, emotional distress
Washington v. Rounds, No. PWG-16-320 (D. Md. Nov. 27, 2017)
Key Insight: Spoliation. Court ordered discovery to determine if failure to preserve relevant evidence, and if so, whether 37(e) sanctions are warranted.
Nature of Case: civil action under 42 U.S.C. s. 1983
Electronic Data Involved: prisoner surveillance video
Keywords: Spoliation, failure to preserve relevant evidence.
Winfield v. City of New York, No. 1:15-cv-05236-LTS-KHP (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 27, 2017)
Key Insight: Methodologies behind TAR are privileged (especially the seed set), the court may also perform in camera review to determine the competency of TAR if necessary, poor TAR practices may allow opposing counsel to set parameters
Nature of Case: Fair Housing Act
Electronic Data Involved: Electronic documents
Keywords: TAR, FHA, discrimination, predictive coding, in camera review
Thompson Auto. Labs, LLC v. Illinois Tool Works, Inc., No. 15-cv-282-FL (E.D.N.C. Nov. 21, 2017)
Key Insight: relevancy
Nature of Case: breach of contract, trademark infringement, false advertisement, unfair and deceptive trade practices
Electronic Data Involved: electronic documents
Keywords: relevance, broadly construed, breach of warranty