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
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
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
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
Key Insight: Terminated employee obtained preliminary injunction preventing his former employer from accessing “private” files stored on his work computer or discussing “private” files that were accessed; employer further ordered to provide employee access to his private files to determine which ones he wanted copied; employee prohibited from deleting any information from work computer
Nature of Case: Former assistant attorney general sought damages and injunctive relief
Electronic Data Involved: Employee’s “private” information contained on work computer
Key Insight: Plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction granted; defendants enjoined from destroying, erasing or altering any of its computer-stored information that concerns any of plaintiff’s claims against them
Nature of Case: Trademark infringement
Electronic Data Involved: Computer data
Key Insight: Court denied plaintiff’s request “to go into Ford’s databases and look for any relevant information that might be there,” finding the request for production to be overbroad and unduly burdensome
Nature of Case: Product liability
Electronic Data Involved: Databases
Key Insight: Failure to produce computer data and other discovery abuses warranted imposition of monetary sanctions against defendant ($105,000 paid to plaintiffs and $15,000 paid to clerk of court “for the unnecessary consumption of the court’s time and resources”) and appointment of special master at defendant’s expense for purpose of monitoring its compliance with all further discovery
Nature of Case: Class action brought by veterans for alleged exposure to radiation during service with armed forces
Electronic Data Involved: Two V.A. computer systems (databases)
Key Insight: Plaintiff sanctioned $10,000 for failing to preserve or search email of certain persons; key word search to be narrowed
Nature of Case: Business sued competitors for defamation and unfair competition
Electronic Data Involved: Email, databases (scope of key word search)
Key Insight: Government required to submit a proposed protocol for searching the contents of seized computer hard drive and disks before it could conduct any search; court observed that government essentially sought “a license to roam through everything in the computer without limitation and without standards,” and that such a request failed to satisfy the particularity requirement of the Fourth Amendment
Nature of Case: Suspected tax fraud
Electronic Data Involved: Computer hard drive and computer disks
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