Case Summaries – Page 418 – Electronic Discovery Law

Nicholas v. Windham Int’l, Inc., 373 F.3d 537 (4th Cir. 2004)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: No abuse of discretion to deny enforcement of subpoena directed to plaintiffs’ nonparty company where defendants had already deposed plaintiffs and conceded that the company would have no additional information, plaintiffs would be designated Rule 30(b)(6) witnesses if discovery were allowed, and plaintiffs had already produced email from their business accounts and remained under a continuing obligation to supplement their earlier productions

Nature of Case: Ancillary proceeding to enforce subpoena

Electronic Data Involved: Email

SEC v. Beacon Hill Asset Mgmt. LLC, 231 F.R.D. 134 (S.D.N.Y. 2004)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Granting motion to compel contact list printed out from defendant’s contact management software program which was not timely included on defendant’s privilege log, court rejected “frivolous” argument that the contact list technically did not exist until it was printed: “For more than thirty years, Fed.R.Civ . P. 34(a) has included data stored on electronic media as being subject to a Rule 34 request. The fact that the data has not been printed out does not mean that the document does not exist. Indeed, if BH’s argument were meritorious, any party could avoid producing damaging documents through the simple expedient of storing them on electronic media and never printing them out.”

Nature of Case: SEC enforcement action

Electronic Data Involved: Email, spreadsheets and contact list

Superior Consultant Co. v. Bailey, 2000 WL 1279161 (E.D. Mich. Aug. 22, 2000)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Reference to previously entered TRO, ordering, among other things, that the parties neither destroy, alter, modify nor conceal any relevant data, including data stored on computer media, that defendants create and thereafter produce to defense counsel a backup file of defendant Bailey’s laptop computer, and a backup file of any personal computer hard-drive to which defendant Bailey has had access at any time, and that defendants produce a redacted copy of these hard-drive backup files to plaintiff’s counsel within three days after entry of the TRO; subsequent preliminary injunction included similar provisions

Nature of Case: Employer sued former employee for breach of employment contract, tortious interference, misappropriation of trade secrets

Electronic Data Involved: Databases containing sales and customer information

United States v. Keystone Sanitation Co., 885 F. Supp. 672 (M.D. Pa. 1994)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Inadvertent disclosure of defense attorney’s emails regarding defendants’ disposition of assets in context of massive production constituted subject matter waiver of attorney-client privilege because precautions taken to avoid such disclosure were not reasonable, defendants ordered to produce unredacted attorney billing memoranda relating to issue

Nature of Case: Environmental litigation

Electronic Data Involved: Email

Williams v. Hernandez, 2004 WL 1161318 (S.D.N.Y. May 25, 2004)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Production request for all email to or from individual defendant during specified period was overly broad and burdensome, since plaintiff failed to justify the wholesale production of emails and failed to indicate why there would be relevant information concerning her claims in such emails

Nature of Case: Sex discrimination, negligent hiring and battery

Electronic Data Involved: Email

Bell v. Woodward Governor Co., 2004 WL 3121301 (N.D. Ill. Dec. 20, 2004)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Where defendant represented that it had not located any other responsive documents which were not previously produced, court ordered defendant, with seven days of receipt of the order, to: (1) confirm that a reasonable search for the subject documents was conducted and indicate what the manner of the search was, (2) produce responsive documents, (3) confirm if no responsive documents exist, and (4) confirm instances where the documents were destroyed, indicating by whom and when, if possible

Nature of Case: Class action for race discrimination

Electronic Data Involved: Email and other documents

Edward D. Ioli Trust v. Avigilon Corp., No. 2:10-cv-605-JRG, 2012 WL 5830711 (E.D. Tex)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Court found that local Patent Rule 3-4(a) requires production of source code and granted Plaintiff?s motion to compel

Nature of Case: Patent infringement

Electronic Data Involved: Source Code

Arista Records, Inc. v. Sakfield Holding Co. S.L., 314 F. Supp. 2d 27 (D.D.C. 2004)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Since defendant had destroyed electronic records and failed to produce the very records that would provide evidence of its contacts within D.C., even after being ordered by court to do so, court denied defendant’s motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction; court declined to impose any sanctions, but said plaintiff could bring a motion in the future

Nature of Case: Copyright infringement and related claims

Electronic Data Involved: Electronic information on servers

Century ML-Cable Corp. v. Carrillo, 43 F. Supp. 2d 176 (D.P.R. 1998)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Default judgment entered against defendant and attorneys’ fees awarded to plaintiff, pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 37, for defendant’s willful and intentional destruction of laptop presumably containing crucial evidence of defendant’s decoder key modification programs, sale records and customer lists

Nature of Case: Cable TV provider sued businessman for cable TV theft

Electronic Data Involved: Laptop

Crown-Life Ins. Co. v. Craig, 995 F.2d 1376 (7th Cir. 1993)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Insurer’s willful failure to comply with discovery orders and failure to produce database warranted evidentiary preclusion order amounting to entry of default judgment on agent’s counterclaim

Nature of Case: Insurer sued former general agent and agent counterclaimed for renewal commissions owed

Electronic Data Involved: Database containing raw data regarding policies sold by agents

Catagory:Case Summaries