Morgan Hill Concerned Parents Assoc. v. California Dept. Educ., No. 2:11-cv-3471 KJM AC, 2017 WL 445722 (E.D. Cal. Feb. 2, 2017)
In this case, the court granted Plaintiffs’ motion to compel production in native format with metadata, including the reproduction of information already produced, where Defendant failed to follow the protocol set forth in Fed. R. Civ. P. 34(b) and unilaterally produced in “’load file’ format.”
Key Insight: Party that does not dispute it spoliated ESI should be sanctioned
Nature of Case: consumer protection class action
Electronic Data Involved: deleted electronic records
Keywords: spoliation sanctions, deleted electronic records
Key Insight: Defendant produced in format requested by Plaintiff. Plaintiff filed motion to compel on grounds documents not matched up to requests. Due to burden on Defendant and lack of prejudice to Plaintiff, Defendant not required to change format of production.
Nature of Case: Breach of Contract
Electronic Data Involved: ESI Production
Keywords: Format; ordinary course of business
Key Insight: Rule 37 does not directly address destruction of video footage.
Nature of Case: prisoner suicide
Electronic Data Involved: video footage, emails, text messages
Keywords: destruction video, spoliation video
Key Insight: whether an order of default judgment amounts to abuse of discretion given finding of bad faith
Nature of Case: patent infringement / misappropriation of trade secrets
Electronic Data Involved: deleted electronic records
Keywords: spoliation, overwriting, internal clock, laptop, forensic investigation, intent, bad faith, prejudice, ability to control, litigation hold notice, default judgment, adverse inference, deterrence
Key Insight: No spoliation because no bad faith found when party did not retain records after selling assets (including computers)
Nature of Case: workplace discrimination, disability rights
Electronic Data Involved: unspecified electronic records
Keywords: Rule 37(e) ignored,
HCC Ins. Holdings, Inc. v. Flowers, No. 1:15-cv-3262-WSD, 2017 WL 393732 (N.D. Ga. Jan. 30, 2017)
In this case, the court declined to impose spoliation sanctions, despite Defendant and her husband’s “troubling” behavior, where Plaintiff failed to “present evidence to cast significant doubt” on the explanations for the at-issue behavior and failed to establish that the at-issue information—namely Plaintiff’s trade secrets and confidential information—had ever been “resident” on Defendant’s personal computer or otherwise in her control.
Key Insight: Sanctions not found because VHS degrades naturally and missing reports were not proven relevant
Nature of Case: false arrest
Electronic Data Involved: video VHS, lost original tape, paper documents
Keywords: 37(e) ignored, lost original tape, missing reports, culpable state of mind
Key Insight: Even if documents are recovered from deletion, sanctions may still be proper, sanctions are proper when failing to adhere to litigation holds, sanctions based on perjury are not criminal charges of perjury, extreme bad-faith litigation allows for cost shifting of attorney’s fees
Nature of Case: Litigation misconduct
Electronic Data Involved: Electronic files
Keywords: 7 million, sanctions, unusually deplorable, perjury, bizarre, rat droppings
Identified State Rule(s): “American Rule”
Key Insight: Waiver of privilege for documents inadvertently posted to publicly accessible Box.com location
Nature of Case: insurance coverage litigation
Electronic Data Involved: Box.com uploads
Keywords: Box.com, privilege waiver, publicly accessible, account permissions, file sharing
Identified State Rule(s): Va. Sup. Ct. R. 4.1(b)(6)(ii)
Identified Federal Rule(s): FRE 502(b)
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