Key Insight: Judge reluctantly agreed with plaintiff that TAR should be applied before keyword searches used to cull data set.
Nature of Case: Products Liability
Electronic Data Involved: ESI
Keywords: TAR; keyword; data cull
Key Insight: The loss of surveillance video was unrelated to defendant’s liability, so spoliation determination was unnecessary
Nature of Case: 8th Amendment
Electronic Data Involved: video
Keywords: failure to preserve ESI,
Key Insight: Is expedited discovery warranted, and how extensive can Twitch seek discovery on the bot company. Are the non-respnding defendants’ financial informations avle to be discovered?
Nature of Case: Trademark, Contract, unfair competition, cybersquatting
Electronic Data Involved: financial/billing information
Keywords: Immediate discovery, video games, internet, third party discovery
Key Insight: ESI “willfully discarded or deleted”
Nature of Case: Alleged violations of the electronic Communications Privacy Act against defendants accused of stealing plaintiff’s clients and confidential information.
Electronic Data Involved: defendant’s iPhone, laptop and external hard drive
Keywords: adverse-inference instruction, forensic examination of a flash drive.
Key Insight: When ESI is recovered, it is not lost, and thus no spoliation. Further, there is no evidence that the delay was prejudicial.
Nature of Case: Workplace injury
Electronic Data Involved: an e-mail
Keywords: Spoliation sanctions, recovered ESI, prejudice
Key Insight: Inherent authority was used by the court to find a spoliation violation in failing to keep records as legally required. FRCP Rule 37(e) not cited, but the outcome would likely have been the same.
Nature of Case: Negligence
Electronic Data Involved: Maintenance logs and records
Keywords: Spoliation, sanctions, adverse inference
Key Insight: Security footage was overwritten before notice of lawsuit, so no spoliation; no intent to deprive found.
Nature of Case: Prisoner civil rights
Electronic Data Involved: Security video footage, audio recording, medical records
Keywords: video footage, deleted footage, spoliation sanctions
Key Insight: Despite rule 37(e), the court ordered sanctions for negligent failure to preserve. The court ruled that since rule 37(b) did not apply without a discovery order, the court may issue sanctions under its inherent power. Relevance is proportional to burden on party seeking the adverse inference.
Nature of Case: Workplace discrimination
Electronic Data Involved: email records
Keywords: sanctions, spoliation, adverse inference
Key Insight: Plaintiff reset iPhone, shortly before sending to vendor for forensic examination. Previous sanctions had not proven to deter this activity and recommended dismissal of case.
Nature of Case: Wrongful Termination
Electronic Data Involved: iPhone Records
Keywords: spoliation; destruction; sanctions
Key Insight: All data stored as picture files therefore unsearchable
Nature of Case: Employment Discrimination
Electronic Data Involved: “picture files”; text messages; email; ESI; hard drives; database
Keywords: Cost shifting; Inaccessible; data stored as picture files; searchablity
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