Electronic Discovery Law

Legal issues, news and best practices relating to the discovery of electronically stored information.

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Court Compels Cooperation Regarding Search Terms
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Davis v. Crescent Electric Company et al. (D. S.D., 2016)
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Reyes et al. v. Julia Place Condominiums Homeowners Association, Inc., et al. (E.D. La., 2016)
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Court Finds “Rather Broad” Request to be Proportional Upon Factor-by-Factor Analysis
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Washington v. United Air Lines, Inc., No. 15-cv-00471-VC (N.D. Cal. Oct. 4, 2016)
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Carter v. Cummings – 201610mary (Western District of Wisconsin, 2016)
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Oracle America, Inc. v. Google, Inc. (ND Cal, 2016)
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No Sanctions for Deletion where Files were Recoverable or Duplicated Elsewhere
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Coles Wexford Hotel, Inc. v. Highmark, Inc., No. 10-1609 (W.D. Pa. Sept. 20, 2016)
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In re Bard IVC Filters Products Liability Litigation (District of Arizona, 2016)

Court Compels Cooperation Regarding Search Terms

Pyle v. Selective Ins. Co. of Am., No. 2:16-cv-335, 2016 WL 5661749 (W.D. Pa. Sept. 30, 2016)

In this case, the court granted Defendant’s motion to compel Plaintiff’s cooperation regarding search terms intended to identify responsive emails requested by the plaintiff.  Notably, in response to Defendant’s motion, Plaintiff’s counsel argued that Defendant had “cited no authority to support its request, nor identified any burden that it face[d] in locating and producing the requested emails.”  Reasoning that Plaintiff’s argument “totally misses the mark” the court concluded that the parties must confer:

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Davis v. Crescent Electric Company et al. (D. S.D., 2016)

Key Insight: NDA adequately protects confidential and/or privileged information during forensic examination

Nature of Case: employment discrimination

Electronic Data Involved: email

Keywords: forensic examination

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Court Finds “Rather Broad” Request to be Proportional Upon Factor-by-Factor Analysis

First Niagara Risk Mgmt., Inc. v. Folino, —F.R.D.—, 2016 WL 4247654 (E.D. Pa. Aug. 11, 2016)

In this case, the court addressed the parties’ disagreement regarding a proper scope of discovery and Plaintiff’s related motion to compel the search of Defendant’s electronic devices, to be conducted by an independent e-Discovery vendor utilizing search terms proposed by the plaintiff.  Upon finding the requested information relevant and following consideration of each of the proportionality factors identified in recently amended Rule 26(b)(1), the court granted Plaintiff’s motion to compel.

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Washington v. United Air Lines, Inc., No. 15-cv-00471-VC (N.D. Cal. Oct. 4, 2016)

Key Insight: Sanctions for delays caused by bad faith reliance on a vendor for a small production.

Nature of Case: discovery delays

Electronic Data Involved: archived e-mail

Keywords: discovery delay, discovery vendor, small production, bad faith

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Carter v. Cummings – 201610mary (Western District of Wisconsin, 2016)

Key Insight: If a party claims no responsive documents are found, they must provide a response that indicates the steps taken to determine that no responsive documents exist

Nature of Case: Prisoner self harm

Electronic Data Involved: E-mails

Keywords: Prisoner, self harm, pro se,

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Oracle America, Inc. v. Google, Inc. (ND Cal, 2016)

Key Insight: Oracle’s lawyers did not read the ESI produced to them, and instead accused Google of withholding critical evidence (that had been produced).

Nature of Case: Copyright infringement.

Electronic Data Involved: ESI produced by Google.

Keywords: This case shows the critical importance of electronic document review. Discovery-concealment misconduct.

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No Sanctions for Deletion where Files were Recoverable or Duplicated Elsewhere

Erhart v. Bofl Holding, Inc., No. 15-cv-02287-BAS(NLS), 2016 WL 5110453 (S.D. Cal. Sept. 21, 2016)

In this case, the court declined to impose spoliation sanctions for Plaintiff’s deletion of ESI from numerous electronic devices where the majority of the information at issue could be recovered or was duplicated in another location (including the defendant’s systems) and thus was not “destroyed,” and where the prejudice resulting from the few files that could not be recovered was minimal.

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Coles Wexford Hotel, Inc. v. Highmark, Inc., No. 10-1609 (W.D. Pa. Sept. 20, 2016)

Key Insight: The special master considered relevancy to be as broad as the subject matter, which is broader than the scope of discovery contemplated by Rule 26… did not satisfy its burden to show that the information it requests from Highmark is relevant, the court is not required to analyze whether that request is proportional to this case

Nature of Case: Antitrust

Keywords: Reasonably Calculated

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In re Bard IVC Filters Products Liability Litigation (District of Arizona, 2016)

Key Insight: proportionality with regards to relevancy

Nature of Case: Products Liability

Electronic Data Involved: Communications between foreign entities that sell the product and foreign regulatory bodies regarding the products

Keywords: Proportionality, marginally relevant, relevancy

View Case Opinion

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