Case Summaries – Page 188 – Electronic Discovery Law

In re Toyota Motor Corp. Unintended Acceleration Mktg. Sales Practices, and Prods. Liability Litig., —F. Supp. 2d—, 2012 WL 2146319 (C.D. Cal. June 11, 2012)

Dec 01 2012

Key Insight: Where Toyota conducted inspection of relevant Event Data Recorder without providing plaintiffs the opportunity to be present but where there was no showing of actual alteration or deletion of relevant data, court declined to impose terminating sanctions and ordered a cautionary instruction be given to the jury; court also credited plaintiff?s evidence regarding a dispute surrounding the location of a plastic piece in plaintiffs? engine, which was allegedly moved by Toyota representatives during their inspection, and ordered an evidentiary instruction stating that the Toyota representatives testimony regarding the plastic piece should be regarded with ?greater caution? than that of other witnesses

Nature of Case: Personal injury/product liability

Electronic Data Involved: Event Data Recorder data and plastic piece in engine

Adkins v. Wolever, —F.3d—, 2012 WL 3711433 (6th Cir. Aug. 29, 2012)

Dec 01 2012

Key Insight: Where District Court held that because defendant, a prison guard, did not have control over the preservation of relevant surveillance footage there was no basis to establish his culpability for its loss and thus spoliation sanctions were not warranted, the appellate court acknowledged that other circuits had imposed sanctions for a prison?s loss of relevant footage but determined the case law did not require a finding of negligence for such loss and that, even if the appellate court were to disagree with the District Court?s determination, the conclusion was not ?clearly erroneous?; court spoke to concerns that this would provide carte blanche for prisons? destruction of such footage, but found that imposing a burden upon individual defendant?s to ensure that their employer (the prison) was preserving evidentiary records for every incident with a prisoner was not appropriate

Nature of Case: Action brought by prisoner for injury allegedly inflicted by prison guard

Electronic Data Involved: Surveillance footage

Kregg v Maldonado, —N.Y.S.2d—, 2012 WL 4469935 (N.Y. App. Div. Sept. 28, 2012)

Dec 01 2012

Key Insight: Where lower court granted defendants? motion to compel the ?entire contents? of plaintiff?s social media accounts, appellate court found the ruling was in error where there was no contention that the contents contradicted plaintiff?s claims and where the appellate court determined the ?proper means? to obtain disclosure of relevant information was a ?narrowly-tailored discovery request seeking only that social-media-based information that relates to the claimed injuries arising from the accident?

Nature of Case: Claims related to injuries from motorcycle accident

Electronic Data Involved: Social media accounts

Rogers v Allstate Ins. Co., No. 11-cv-7776, 2012 WL 5250513 (E.D. Pa. Oct. 23, 2012)

Dec 01 2012

Key Insight: Where plaintiff recycled the at-issue computer after being notified that Allstate disputed the effective date of her cancellation (which may have been discernible from examination of the computer) but before it was formally requested in discovery (almost two years later), court questioned whether a lay person would have known to keep her computer because of potential litigation when the computer was not the subject of her claim and declined to dismiss her claims but indicated that it would entertain further motions practice on the issue closer to trial

Nature of Case: Breach of contract, bad faith

Electronic Data Involved: Personal Computer

AllianceBernstein L.P. v. Atha, —N.Y.S.2d—, 2012 WL 5519060 (N.Y. App. Div. Nov. 15, 2012)

Dec 01 2012

Key Insight: On defendant?s appeal of lower court?s order requiring production of his iphone to opposing counsel for counsel?s review, appellate court found the order too broad and ?tantamount to ordering the production of his computer? and remanded the case with the order that plaintiff produce the iphone to the court for in camera review to identify what if any information was responsive to plaintiff?s discovery request

Nature of Case: Breach of employment contract, misappropriation of confidential information

Electronic Data Involved: iPhone

Howell v. Buckeye Ranch, Inc., No. 2:11-cv-1014, 2012 WL 5265170 (S.D. Ohio Oct. 1, 2012)

Dec 01 2012

Key Insight: Court denied motion to compel Plaintiff?s production of her user names and passwords for all social media sites and indicated that Defendants were free to request relevant information from the private portions of Plaintiff?s social media accounts which Plaintiff?s counsel could access and produce and that Plaintiff remained obligated to preserve all relevant information and that if any information had been deleted, Plaintiff?s counsel should advise Defendants? counsel and attempt to recover the deleted data

Nature of Case: Employment discrimination

Electronic Data Involved: Social Media (Facebook)

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

U.S. ex rel Yannacopoulos v. Gen. Dynamics, No. 03 C 3012, 2012 WL 1748120 (N.D. Ill. May 15, 2012)

Dec 01 2012

Key Insight: Court awarded electronic copying costs incurred in response to plaintiffs? production request

Electronic Data Involved: Exemplification costs

Chen v. New Trend Apparel, No. 11 Civ. 324 (GBD) (MHD), 2012 WL 4784855 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 2, 2012)

Dec 01 2012

Key Insight: Court denied motion to compel inspection of defendants? computers reasoning that such inspections are granted only under limited circumstances ?when there is reason to believe that a litigant has tampered with the computer or hidden relevant materials despite demand for them in the course of the lawsuit or when the possession or use of the computer is an element of the parties’ claims or defenses? and further reasoning that movants made no showing to justify their request, particularly where certain information they sought had already been provided

Electronic Data Involved: Hard drives

Mailhoit v. Home Depot USA, No. CV 11-03892 DOC (SSx), 2012 WL 12884128 (C.D. Cal. Aug. 29, 2012)

Dec 01 2012

Key Insight: Addressing Defendant?s Motion for an order precluding discovery of disaster recovery backup tapes, court considered the factors laid out in Rule 26(b)(2)(B)?s Committee Note (2006) and relevant case law and concluded that Defendant met its burden to establish inaccessibility where restoration and production would be ?extraordinarily expensive, both in restoration costs and attorney time? and that Plaintiff failed to establish good cause to compel production, citing as most important the failure to substantiate the claim that the emails would be important or useful to her case; court rejected argument that sampling must be conducted before a cost-benefit analysis could be undertaken by the court

Electronic Data Involved: Disaster Recovery Backup Tapes

Catagory:Case Summaries