Case Summaries – Page 245 – Electronic Discovery Law

Solarbridge Tech., Inc. v. Doe, 2010 WL 3419189 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 27, 2010)

Dec 01 2010

Key Insight: Court granted leave to subpoena internet service providers to obtain information to reveal the identify of defendant John Doe where plaintiff adequately identified defendant Doe as an individual that accessed and disclosed plaintiff?s confidential information to a competitor; identified its steps to identify the defendant in another fashion (including attempting to contact defendant doe at the email address from which the confidential materials were sent, searching public records, contacting competitors, etc.); established to the court?s satisfaction that its suit could withstand a motion to dismiss; and showed a reasonable likelihood that the discovery would lead to the information necessary to I.D. the defendant and make service possible

Nature of Case: Violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act

Electronic Data Involved: Identity of ISP subscriber

Biax Corp. v. Nvidia Corp., 2010 WL 3777540 (D. Colo. Sept. 21, 2010)

Dec 01 2010

Key Insight: In an opinion addressing numerous discovery issues, the court granted in part plaintiff?s motion to compel and ordered the parties to submit a status report, preferably jointly, proposing a discreet number of proposed custodians and search terms, and to submit a joint-cost sharing agreement ?for the hefty cost of searching electronic files as represented by [defendant] with an accompanying affidavit in support of the anticipated costs?; court reasoned in footnote that ?justice require[ed]? cost sharing in light of the expense of searching electronic files and in light of the amount of documentation already produced by the defendant

Nature of Case: Patent infringement

Electronic Data Involved: ESI

Lunts v. Rochester City School Dist., 2010 WL 2786519 (W.D.N.Y. Sept. 28, 2010)

Dec 01 2010

Key Insight: Where defendants denied plaintiffs? spoliation allegations and opposed their motion for sanctions by asserting that all responsive emails had been produced, court ordered defendants to comply with a prior order requiring defense counsel to submit a declaration indicating whether any relevant ESI had been withheld and why and to provide a privilege log for any such documents and to provide a privilege log for three emails previously submitted for in camera review; failure to submit the declaration or the privilege log by a date certain would result in a $500 sanction for each violation

Nature of Case: Employment litigation

Electronic Data Involved: Emails

United States v. McNealy, 625 F.3d 858 (5th Cir. 2010)

Dec 01 2010

Key Insight: Where the original computer seized from defendant was ?destroyed as the result of a miscommunication between divisions of the federal government? (computer was destroyed by the Asset Forfeiture Division working independently of the attorneys handling the criminal case), the District Court did not err in finding that the computer was not destroyed in bad faith and that such destruction did not violate the defendant?s due process rights

Nature of Case: Possession and receipt of child pornography

Electronic Data Involved: Computer/hard drive seized as evidence

Moore v. Shands Jacksonville Med. Ctr., 2010 WL 5137417 (M.D. Fla. Dec. 10, 2010)

Dec 01 2010

Key Insight: Where, absent specification of the format of production from either party, defendant produced video surveillance footage in what it considered a ?reasonably usable? format which required particular software for viewing, and where that software was available for free download on the internet, the court indicated it was ?not sympathetic? to plaintiff?s claims of undue burden as to the downloading the software and found that defendants had produced the video in a reasonably usable form

Nature of Case: Employment discrimination

Electronic Data Involved: Surveillance footage

Patrick Collins, Inc. v. Does 1-1219, 2010 WL 5422569 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 28, 2010)

Dec 01 2010

Key Insight: Court granted motion for expedited discovery to allow plaintiff to serve subpoenas on certain Internet Service Providers to obtain information identifying the Doe Defendants so that plaintiff could complete service of process

Nature of Case: Copyright Infringement

Electronic Data Involved: Name of ISP subscriber

Stearman v. State, No. 29 A02-1002-CR-214, 2010 WL 59827 (Ind. Ct. App. Aug. 11, 2010)

Dec 01 2010

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

Lorentz v. Sunshine Health Prods., Inc., 2010 WL 1856265 (S.D. Fla. May 10, 2010)

Dec 01 2010

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

Diocese of Harrisburg v. Summix Dev. Co., 2010 WL 2034699 (M.D. Pa. May 18, 2010)

Dec 01 2010

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

Smith v. Mpire Holdings, LLC v. 2010 WL 3294184 (M.D. Tenn. Aug. 12, 2010)

Dec 01 2010

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

Catagory:Case Summaries