Key Insight: Trial court properly imposed terminating sanctions against plaintiff for egregious discovery abuses, including the deletion of files from hard drives after plaintiff had stipulated that computers and diskettes would not be operated or touched until defendants’ computer expert could examine them
Nature of Case: Breach of contract
Electronic Data Involved: Hard drive, computer files
Key Insight: Court denied plaintiff’s motion to compel defendants to provide affidavits of all employees with access to employment databases and hiring practices, in order to establish whether any documents or data was destroyed, since discovery had been closed for one year and there was no evidence that defendants had destroyed documents
Nature of Case: Employment discrimination
Electronic Data Involved: Hiring and employment database and records
Key Insight: Court did not abuse discretion in denying request for computer tapes where requesting party already possessed all information from tapes on wage cards and were not deprived of any data
Electronic Data Involved: Computer tapes containing wage information
Key Insight: Plaintiff failed to comply with court order by making various misrepresentations about whether all original input files were produced and whether software program changed over time it was used; sanction in form of attorneys’ fees and costs warranted
Nature of Case: Construction litigation
Electronic Data Involved: Software program and input files used to make design calculations
Key Insight: Reversing jury verdict of over $1.5 million in compensatory and punitive damages, court found evidence not legally sufficient to support finding that manager authored offending memorandum; computer experts testified regarding creation of memo, history of revisions and locations of copies
Nature of Case: Former employee sued former employer and managers for libel
Electronic Data Involved: Word document
Key Insight: District court’s refusal to enforce subpoena seeking non-party’s research data affirmed
Nature of Case: Herbicide cancellation proceeding
Electronic Data Involved: Research data regarding toxicity studies of third party
Key Insight: Motion for reconsideration of order granting of summary judgment properly denied where party failed to show that email from repaired server that was produced the day before summary judgment hearing qualified as “newly discovered evidence”
Nature of Case: Action to enforce advertising agreements
Electronic Data Involved: Email
Key Insight: Defendant’s failure to preserve integrity of computer (dropping it repeatedly and apparent tampering, including disconnecting internal cables prior to court-ordered inspection) and failure to produce responsive electronic material warranted monetary sanctions
Nature of Case: Misappropriation of trade secrets
Electronic Data Involved: Hard drive, deleted files, electronically stored invoices
Key Insight: Where plaintiff sought “any document which would evidence the true date when [a particular] entry was actually entered into the computer system,” court ruled that if plaintiff wishes to retain a forensic computer expert at her own expense, she may seek an order that defendant permit the expert to inspect the computer system
Nature of Case: Wrongful termination
Electronic Data Involved: Date of particular data entry in computer system
Key Insight: On defendant’s motion for reconsideration, court again described numerous discovery failings by the defendants, concluded that it would adhere to its prior decision at 212 F.R.D. 178, and further rejected two new arguments belatedly advanced by defendant relating the merits of plaintiff’s underlying claims
Nature of Case: Opera company sued union
Electronic Data Involved: Email and electronic documents; hard drives
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