Case Summaries – Page 404 – Electronic Discovery Law

In re Nat’l Century Fin. Enters., Inc. Fin. Inv. Litig., 347 F. Supp. 2d 538 (S.D. Ohio 2004)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Court granted plaintiffs’ motion for leave to issue document preservation subpoena to Chapter 11 debtor, finding it was necessary to preserve the documents held by debtor since debtor would likely be dissolved and its documents would be destroyed, and such destruction would cause actual prejudice to plaintiffs in prosecuting their class action

Nature of Case: Securities class action by investors claiming that defendants had looted assets of Chapter 11 debtor

Electronic Data Involved: Information held in electronic form

Lyondell-Citgo Refining, LP v. Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A., 2004 WL 1924810 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 30, 2004)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Where defendants had taken steps to remedy alleged gaps in production by producing new spreadsheets and time remained to remedy any further deficiencies prior to the discovery cut-off, extreme sanction of default judgment was unwarranted

Nature of Case: Breach of contract

Electronic Data Involved: Emails and spreadsheets of sales data

Vision Point of Sale, Inc. v. Haas, 2004 WL 5326424 (Ill. Cir. Ct. Sept. 27, 2004)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Court provided direction to parties for implementing injunction, ordering among other things: (1) defendant to obtain new computers of its choice and at its expense to replace all existing computers and servers; (2) defendant to choose which files would be transferred to new computers; (3) plaintiff?s expert to observe copying and transfer, and examine new computers to confirm they do not contain plaintiff?s data; (4) after transfer, defendant?s old computers to be stored and kept available for forensic discovery, the cost of which would be borne 75% by defendant and 25% by plaintiff, except that plaintiff?s expert fees to date to be divided evenly between plaintiff and defendant

Nature of Case: Misappropriation of proprietary information

Electronic Data Involved: 30 computers and 2 servers of defendant

In re Amsted Ind., Inc. ERISA Litig., 2002 WL 31844956 (N.D. Ill. Dec. 18, 2002)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Plaintiffs’ motion to retrieve email granted; defendants required to re-search backup tapes using broader subject matter and time period, and to search email folders of any relevant individual in same manner

Nature of Case: ESOP plan participants sued employer and ESOP for breach of fiduciary duty and other wrongs

Electronic Data Involved: Email and other computerized data

Catskill Devel., LLC v. Park Place Entm’t Corp., 286 F. Supp. 2d 309 (S.D.N.Y. 2003)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: After audiotapes which had not been produced by defendants came to light, court granted plaintiff’s Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b)(3) motion to vacate earlier summary judgment dismissing tortious interference with prospective business relations claim, and re-opened discovery for 30 days to allow expedited inquiry re discrete issues related to revived claim

Nature of Case: Tortious interference with contract and prospective business relations

Electronic Data Involved: Six audiotapes containing discussions between key players

Convolve, Inc. v. Compaq Computer Corp., 223 F.R.D. 162 (S.D.N.Y. 2004)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Court rejected plaintiff’s request for direct access to Compaq’s hard drives, servers, and databases since plaintiff had failed to show widespread destruction or withholding of relevant information by Compaq; court further rejected plaintiff’s request for sanctions for failure to preserve certain evidence

Nature of Case: Patent infringement

Electronic Data Involved: Hard drives, servers, databases, email and electronic data

First USA Bank, N.A. v. Paypal, Inc., 76 Fed.Appx. 935, 2003 WL 22071558 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 21, 2003)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Former CEO of defendant subpoenaed and ordered to appear for deposition and produce his laptop computer for forensic inspection pursuant to court’s approved search protocol; CEO’s appeal of the nonfinal interlocutory order was dismissed

Nature of Case: Patent infringement

Electronic Data Involved: Laptop

Hentsch Henchoz & Cie v. Gubbay, 97 P.3d 1283 (Utah 2004)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Where defendant shipped all of its documents, records, and computer hard drives from Utah to Spain in defiance of trial court’s orders requiring defendant to comply with discovery requests, and trial court granted summary judgment in favor of plaintiff, Supreme Court of Utah held that defendant?s appeal of the summary judgment ruling could be dismissed by appellate court based upon defendant?s contumacious conduct, but Supreme Court would first allow defendant an opportunity to bring itself into compliance with trial court?s orders within 30 days, including those orders requiring defendant to comply with discovery and to return all requested documents and evidence to Utah

Nature of Case: Investor sued financial services company for fraud, conspiracy, breach of contract

Electronic Data Involved: Computer hard drives

Katt v. Titan Acquisitions, Inc., 244 F. Supp. 2d 841 (M.D. Tenn. 2003)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Despite dismissal of all plaintiffs’ claims and entry of final judgment on the merits, court retained ancillary jurisdiction over plaintiffs’ motion for sanctions for spoliation of electronic evidence for purpose of holding a hearing before ruling on the motion

Nature of Case: Securities class action

Electronic Data Involved: Electronic evidence

Madden v. Wyeth, 2003 WL 21443404 (N.D. Tex. Apr. 16, 2003)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Confident that defense counsel would advise their clients of preservation duty and admonish them of dire consequences of violating same, court denied plaintiff’s motion to preserve evidence in absence of some proof that evidence may be lost or destroyed without it

Nature of Case: Drug products liability

Electronic Data Involved: Discoverable information in paper or electronic format

Catagory:Case Summaries