Case Summaries – Page 418 – Electronic Discovery Law

Samide v. Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, 773 N.Y.S.2d 116 (N.Y. App. Div. 2004)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Court modified prior order directing defendants to produce contents of hard drives for in camera inspection; individual defendants now directed to produce hard copies of all emails relating to allegations against certain individual, including any deleted emails recovered by a qualified expert appointed by the referee supervising the discovery; only those emails that in fact deal with relevant allegations to be turned over to the plaintiff; plaintiff agreed to bear all costs related to recovery of data from hard drive

Nature of Case: Sex discrimination, negligent supervision and breach of contract

Electronic Data Involved: Email and deleted email on hard drives of individual defendants

State v. City of Clearwater, 863 So.2d 149 (Fla. 2003)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: City employees? personal email not subject to disclosure under public records law because it fell outside the state’s statutory definition of public records; mere placement of such email on government-owned computer system does not transform such email into a “public record”

Nature of Case: Suit by newspaper to access city employees’ emails under public records law; issue was certified to Florida Supreme Court as “question of great public importance”

Electronic Data Involved: Personal email stored on government-owned computers

In re Tyco Int’l, Ltd. Sec. Litig., 2000 WL 33654141 (D.N.H. July 27, 2000)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Plaintiffs allowed to serve appropriately-worded subpoenas on certain third parties for limited purpose of giving notice of action and placing them under duty to preserve relevant evidence

Nature of Case: Securities fraud

Electronic Data Involved: Unspecified electronic data of third parties

Weaver v. Zenimax Media, Inc., 2004 WL 2755852 (Md. Cir. Ct. Sept. 3, 2004)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Exercising its inherent authority to safeguard the integrity of its judicial process, court granted defendants’ motion for sanctions and dismissed the complaint due to plaintiff’s discovery abuses and “civil vigilantism” which began during the course of his employment and prior to filing suit

Nature of Case: Wrongful discharge

Electronic Data Involved: Illicit incursions into the offices, computers, and email accounts of executives of defendant

Peter Rosenbaum Photography Corp. v. Otto Doosan Mail Order Ltd., 2004 WL 2973822 (N.D. Ill. Nov. 30, 2004)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Court ordered nonparty to comply with subpoenas seeking electronic records, imposing monetary sanctions for nonparty’s unsupported argument that bankruptcy court’s automatic stay prevented it from having to comply with the subpoenas and ordering nonparty and plaintiff to meet and confer on means for compliance

Nature of Case: Copyright infringement

Electronic Data Involved: Electronic records, including email

Mosaid Techs. Inc. v. Samsung Elecs. Co., 348 F.Supp.2d 332 (D.N.J. 2004) (“Mosaid IV”)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Finding defendant’s actions went “far beyond mere negligence, demonstrating knowing and intentional conduct that led to the nonproduction of all technical e-mails,” district court affirmed the spoliation inference jury instruction and monetary sanctions imposed by magistrate

Nature of Case: Patent infringement

Electronic Data Involved: Email

Allstate Ins. Co. v. Hodges, 855 So.2d 636 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2003)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Trial court properly ordered insurer to answer victim’s interrogatories despite claimed burden; court remarked: “[I]n the three years following the issuance of Boecher, Allstate still has not implemented a computer program or system for keeping track of the information. In fact, Allstate used two of the very same affidavits it used in Boecher to explain that its computer systems did not have the information requested readily accessible. In this day of the computer age, and in light of the Boecher court’s serious emphasis on the need for the very type of information requested, Allstate may want to reconsider adapting its computer system to provide easier access to the requested information.”

Nature of Case: Personal injury

Electronic Data Involved: Information regarding insurer’s relationship with and payments to medical groups where its experts worked as physicians

In re Carbon Dioxide Ind. Antitrust Litig., 155 F.R.D. 209 (M.D. Fla. 1993)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Fed. R. Civ. P. 30(b)(6) depositions re computer systems and data allowed to precede merits discovery

Nature of Case: Antitrust class action

Electronic Data Involved: Information re data, hardware, software of each defendant

Compuware Corp. v. Moody’s Investors Servs., Inc., 2004 WL 2931401 (E.D. Mich. Dec. 15, 2004)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Court denied motion to compel as to particular request for production where plaintiff offered to provide defendant a set of portable computer disks (at a cost of $40,000) that contained all the documents that plaintiff produced in separate litigation; since defendant had specifically requested these documents, court would not require plaintiff to cull documents that were responsive to another (more narrow) request

Nature of Case: Dispute over defendant’s credit rating of plaintiff

Electronic Data Involved: Computer disks

Hahn v. Minn. Beef Ind., 2002 WL 32667146 (D. Minn. Mar. 8, 2002)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Where, after months of discovery disputes, reports upon which defendant urged plaintiff to rely in lieu of full database turned out to be inaccurate, court denied plaintiff’s motion for entry of default judgment for discovery abuse and instead postponed trial so that defendant could produce accurate information; however, court imposed monetary sanctions against defendant representing plaintiff’s legal and expert fees for time spent working with inaccurate data

Nature of Case: Employment discrimination

Electronic Data Involved: Database, reports, electronic data

Catagory:Case Summaries