Key Insight: Court quashed subpoena served upon Yahoo! for the production of emails from defendant?s account where the Stored Communications Act generally prohibits such disclosure absent a specifically-enumerated exception and where subpoena in a civil action is not such an exception
Nature of Case: Claims arising from prisoner’s death
Electronic Data Involved: Emails from defendant’s Yahoo! account
Key Insight: Court found that defendant had failed to ask all employees with potentially relevant documents to search for and produce them, that some employees who were asked to search had not complied, and that employees who had complied failed to search for documents in all possible locations and granted plaintiff?s motion to compel additional searching and production; court granted motion to compel defendants to provide a complete answer to an interrogatory seeking detailed information on steps taken to locate responsive materials and ordered defendant to ?certify that all employees with potentially responsive documents searched all locations where such documents are typically stored in paper or electronic format?
Nature of Case: Claims that defendant refused to provide necessary medical care or accommodate plaintiff’s disability
Electronic Data Involved: ESI, emails
Key Insight: Where plaintiff failed to take steps to preserve potentially relevant documents until approximately three and one half years after the lawsuit was initiated and was thus grossly negligent, the court granted an adverse inference and monetary sanctions equal to defendant?s reasonable fess and costs of making the motion for sanctions
Nature of Case: Suit alleging that drug companies had inflated average wholesale price for Medicaid drugs
Electronic Data Involved: ESI
Key Insight: Court held transcript of chat cut and pasted into word document in its entirety was properly authenticated where the officer testified that the transcript was a ?true and accurate and full and complete copy of the exact chat [he] had with the defendant?; Best Evidence Rule was satisfied where ?any printout or other output readable by sight shown to reflect the date accurately is an ?original?? in the context of information stored in a computer and where there was no evidence that the original messages, which were removed from the computer when the instant message program was removed, were erased in bad faith
Nature of Case: Solicitation of a minor
Electronic Data Involved: Printed transcripts of instant messages
Key Insight: Court granted motion for protective order where plaintiff?s request for inspection of defendants? hard drives was found ?per se overbroad and unduly burdensome when balanced against the need cited? and where plaintiff failed to explain whether a less intrusive option had been attempted, ?as per Rule 34?; despite granting the motion, court noted willingness to entertain a motion to inspect a particular hard drive if provided with a protocol for such inspection indicating a method to protect the non-responsive data
Key Insight: Court ordered adverse inference in favor of defendant where plaintiff failed to preserve backup tapes which ?may have contained emails with evidence to support defendants? claims?, despite a duty to do so
Electronic Data Involved: Backup tapes
Key Insight: Court denied motion to compel defendants to sign releases authorizing ISPs to disclose ?all account information, electronic data, information and emails associated with numerous internet website domains? where ?given the nature of the transactions? at issue, such information would be likely to involve the confidential matters of numerous third parties and where the court was unable to protect those parties from ?unauthorized disclosure of their confidential records and information?; court analysis included finding that defendants had control of the electronic information in the custody of the ISPs ?because, according to federal statute, they may consent to grant access to their information?
Electronic Data Involved: All account information, electronic data, information and emails associated with numerous internet website domains
Key Insight: Court held that ?precedent shows that the requesting party bears the cost of electronic discovery when the data sought is ?not reasonably available? upon a showing of undue burden and denied defendant?s order to show cause to compel plaintiffs to pay the costs where defendants data was neither archived nor deleted but simply stored in a number of places and interspersed with other business documents
Electronic Data Involved: ESI
Key Insight: Appellate court modified amended order of the lower court and granted plaintiff?s petition to compel production of certain electronically stored photographs and the associated ?system? metadata in response to plaintiff?s FOIL request; court was careful to limit scope of holding to the present case such that the opinion did not address ?the issue concerning whether and when metadata of any nature is subject to disclosure under the CPLR? (Civil Practice Law Rules)
Nature of Case: Freedom of Information request
Electronic Data Involved: Electronically stored photographs and associated “system” metadata
Key Insight: Court found plaintiff primarily responsible for breakdown of discovery for failing to produce requested ESI or to provide satisfactory explanation of the problems precluding production but declined to order exclusion of all evidence supporting ?diminution in value? claim where plaintiff produced substantial financial information and produced the requested ESI in hard copy, where plaintiffs violated no court order, where the failure to produce was temporally limited to two ?short periods of time?, and where plaintiffs apparent ability to produce the requested ESI would prevent any prejudice; court gave defendant option of receiving ESI on ?searchable CD? or receiving the computer on which the ESI was stored for expert examination
Nature of Case: Adversary proceeding in bankruptcy
Electronic Data Involved: Financial data in electronic format
Copyright © 2025, K&L Gates LLP. All Rights Reserved.