Catagory:Case Summaries

1
Case Citation: Nucci v. Target Corp., 162 So.3d 146 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2015).
2
Butler v. State of Texas, —S.W.3d—, 2015 WL 1816933 (Tex. Crim. App. Apr. 22, 2015)
3
S.E.C. v. CKB168 Holdings, Ltd., No. 13-CV-5584 (RRM), 2015 WL 4872553 (E.D.N.Y. Jan. 7, 2015)
4
Moore v. Wayne Smith Trucking, Inc., No. 14-1919, 2015 WL 6438913 (E.D. La. Oct. 21, 2015)
5
Webb v. Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc., No. 13-1947(JRT/JJK), 2015 WL 317215 (D. Minn. Jan. 26, 2015)
6
Robertson v. People Magazine, No. 14 Civ. 6759 (PAC), 2015 WL 9077111 (S.D. N.Y. Dec. 16, 2015)
7
Otsuka Pharm. Co., Ltd. v. Sandoz, Inc., No. 07-1000 (MLC), 2015 WL 5921049 (D.N.J. Oct. 9, 2015)
8
Shaw v. Experian Info. Sol., Inc., 2015 WL 1260552 (S.D. Cal. Mar. 18, 2015)
9
Cableview Commc?ns of Jacksonville, Inc. v. Time Warner Cable Se., LLC, 3:13-cv-306-J-34JRK, 2015 WL 12838175 (M.D. Fla. May 4, 2015)
10
Andra Grp. LP v. JDA Software Grp., LLC, No. 3:15-mc-K-BN, 2015 WL 1636602 (N.D. Tex. April 13, 2015)

Case Citation: Nucci v. Target Corp., 162 So.3d 146 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2015).

Key Insight: Circuit Court denied petition for certiorari relief to quash Trial Court order compelling discovery of photographs from Plaintiff?s Facebook account, finding no departure from the essential requirements of law, because the photographs were ?powerfully relevant to the damage issues in the lawsuit,? Plaintiff?s privacy interest in them were minimal because ?photographs posted on a social networking site are neither privileged nor protected by any right of privacy, regardless of any privacy settings that the user may have established,? and the Stored Communications Act ?does not apply to individuals who the use the communications services provided.?

Nature of Case: Personal Injury

Electronic Data Involved: Facebook/social media photographs

Butler v. State of Texas, —S.W.3d—, 2015 WL 1816933 (Tex. Crim. App. Apr. 22, 2015)

Key Insight: Highest criminal court in Texas reversed the judgment of the court of appeals that had overturned defendant?s conviction upon concluding that the trial court ?had acted within its discretion? in concluding that the state met its threshold burden of authentication sufficient to admit defendant?s text messages to the victim where authentication can be satisfied by direct or circumstantial evidence and where the victim testified that she knew the messages were from defendant because: he had called from that number in the past, ?the context of the text messages convinced her that the messages were from him,? and ?he actually called her from that same phone number during the course of that very text message exchange?

Nature of Case: Criminal: Kidnapping, assault and related crimes

Electronic Data Involved: Text messages from Defendant to the victim

S.E.C. v. CKB168 Holdings, Ltd., No. 13-CV-5584 (RRM), 2015 WL 4872553 (E.D.N.Y. Jan. 7, 2015)

Key Insight: Rejecting defendants? explanation that their failure to preserve was the result of a vendor?s refusal to continue assistance for the reason of non-payment, the court found that defendants? had a duty to preserve the information stored on the corporate server that began ?well before the vendor stopped providing services? and reasoned that it was defendants? obligation to ?take ?all necessary steps to guarantee that relevant data was both preserved and produced,?? and also found that defendants were ?at a minimum grossly negligent? for failing to preserve relevant evidence where there was no evidence of efforts to preserve a readable copy of the corporate server nor evidence that they sought modification of the freeze on their assets in able to make payments to the vendor; magistrate judge recommended sanction of an adverse inference

Nature of Case: Securities and Exchange Commission investigation (SEC)

Electronic Data Involved: Contents of corporate server / “back office data”

Moore v. Wayne Smith Trucking, Inc., No. 14-1919, 2015 WL 6438913 (E.D. La. Oct. 21, 2015)

Key Insight: Court concluded that Facebook materials are discoverable but would not require Defendant to produce his username and password and instead ordered Defendant to provide his attorney with postings from the relevant time period to be reviewed by the attorney?and not the defendant?to identify responsive information

Nature of Case: Personal injury

Electronic Data Involved: Social network contents (e.g., Facebook, MySpace)

Webb v. Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc., No. 13-1947(JRT/JJK), 2015 WL 317215 (D. Minn. Jan. 26, 2015)

Key Insight: Court overruled parties’ objections to Magistrate Judge’s order addressing scope of discovery where underlying court properly considered and applied the principle of proportionality; addressing defendant’s alleged costs of production, court reasoned in part that ?The fact that a corporation has an unwieldy record keeping system which requires it to incur heavy expenditures of time and effort to produce requested documents is an insufficient reason to prevent disclosure of otherwise discoverable information.?

Nature of Case: Products liability

Electronic Data Involved: ESI

Robertson v. People Magazine, No. 14 Civ. 6759 (PAC), 2015 WL 9077111 (S.D. N.Y. Dec. 16, 2015)

Key Insight: Court addressed motion to compel and held that requests were burdensome, disproportionate to the needs of the case, and irrelevant to Plaintiff?s claims reasoning that Plaintiff?s requests for ?nearly unlimited access to People?s editorial files? would ?extend far beyond the scope of Plaintiff?s claims and would significantly burden Defendants?

Nature of Case: Employment litigation

Electronic Data Involved: ESI

Otsuka Pharm. Co., Ltd. v. Sandoz, Inc., No. 07-1000 (MLC), 2015 WL 5921049 (D.N.J. Oct. 9, 2015)

Key Insight: Court allowed taxable costs for ?the scanning and conversion of documents into TIFF format? noting that the conversion was ?critical due to the complex nature of the case and the sheer volume of documents that were exchanged during discovery and trial? and citing Race Tires Am., Inc. v. Hoosier Racing Tire Corp., 674 F.3d 158, 160, 171 (3d Cir.2012)

Nature of Case: Consolidated claims under Hatch-Waxman Act

Electronic Data Involved: Taxable Costs

Shaw v. Experian Info. Sol., Inc., 2015 WL 1260552 (S.D. Cal. Mar. 18, 2015)

Key Insight: Court granted Plaintiffs? motion to compel production of defendant database records. Defendant argued that the harm to third parties from disclosure of personal information contained in the requested data outweighed the relevance of the information to plaintiffs? claim, and that the preparation, review, and production presented an undue burden. Finding that the requested data was highly relevant to the class certification requirements, the court concluded plaintiffs? need significantly outweighed privacy concerns given the option of producing subject to protective order and Plaintiffs? agreement to accept data with personal information redacted. Nor was the court persuaded by defendant?s burden argument, finding the estimate and explanation from plaintiffs? database consultant ?more persuasive, appropriate, and accurate? than that provided by defendant – particularly in light of modifications Plaintiffs made to their request after defendant clarified how the data was stored in their systems. The court also noted that defendant?s briefing failed to allege any facts supporting its assertion that the information was more readily available from other sources.

Nature of Case: Class Action; Violation of Fair Credit Reporting Act

Electronic Data Involved: Database

Cableview Commc?ns of Jacksonville, Inc. v. Time Warner Cable Se., LLC, 3:13-cv-306-J-34JRK, 2015 WL 12838175 (M.D. Fla. May 4, 2015)

Key Insight: The Court denied Plaintiff?s Motion to Compel Production of Documents. Plaintiff sought Defendant?s tax returns and document retention policies. Plaintiff entered into an agreement with Defendant in 2004 to provide cable television installation services. In 2010 Defendant tendered a workplace injury claim to Plaintiff for indemnification. Plaintiff?s insurance carrier denied coverage and the claim was left unpaid. In 2012, Plaintiff informed Defendant that it was being acquired by another company. One day before the closing of the transaction, Defendant contacted the acquiring company and made repayment for the workplace injury claim ?a condition to assent to assignment? of the agreement. Plaintiff alleged tortious interference and sought Defendant?s tax returns to demonstrate its ability to pay punitive damages. Plaintiff further alleged spoliation claiming there were missing emails and sought documents regarding Defendant?s document retention policies. The Court denied Plaintiff?s Motion holding that the request for punitive damages cannot form the basis for financial worth discovery since Plaintiff failed to make a reasonable showing of tortious interference. Further, there was no spoliation given that Defendant located and produced the emails in question and so Defendant?s document retention policies were not relevant.

Nature of Case: Workplace injury claim

Electronic Data Involved: Emails, ESI

Andra Grp. LP v. JDA Software Grp., LLC, No. 3:15-mc-K-BN, 2015 WL 1636602 (N.D. Tex. April 13, 2015)

Key Insight: Court addressed 3rd party?s motion to quash allegedly burdensome subpoena and to preclude further production or to require the defendant to pay for the non-party?s expenses and found that the defendant had demonstrated its needs for ?most of the categories of documents? but also concluded that the 3rd party?s objections should be sustained in part and modified the subpoena?s requests to reduce the burden; Court rejected arguments that 3rd party?s lack of a ?dedicated IT specialist?, use of cloud based email and need to rely on employees? and or hire a vendor establish burden; court also found that ?by producing the documents in non-readable PDF format without the metadata specified by the subpoena?s instructions, and failing to serve any written objections to those instructions, p202 failed to comply with Rule 45(a)(1)(C) and 45(e)(1)?s requirement to comply with the subpoena?s specification of a form for producing ESI? and ordered re-production in accordance with the subpoena?s instruction

Electronic Data Involved: ESI

Copyright © 2025, K&L Gates LLP. All Rights Reserved.