Data Preservation – Page 15 – Electronic Discovery Law

Edelson v Cheung, No. 2:13-cv-5870 (JLL)(JAD), 2017 WL 150241 (D.N.J. Jan. 12, 2017)

Dec 01 2017

Key Insight: Where Plaintiff sought spoliation sanctions for Defendant?s deletion of emails and argued that Defendant intended to keep the at-issue account hidden and deleted emails after it was discovered through another party?s production and that those emails revealed Defendant?s intent to keep the at-issue account hidden and other elements of Plaintiff?s claims, the court found that the deletions were ?intended to deprive Plaintiff of the information? contained within and reasoned that Defendant?s claim that he deleted the emails because of computer performance lacked credibility, but declined to impose default judgment absent a sufficient degree of prejudice and instead ordered that a permissive adverse inference instruction would be given to the jury

Nature of Case: Breach of contract and related claims

Electronic Data Involved: Email

Teal v. Jones, No. 2015-CA-00259-COA, 2017 WL 58824 (Miss. Ct. App. Jan. 3, 2017)

Dec 01 2017

Key Insight: Spoliation instructions to jury were erroneous and the case was reversed and remanded for a new trial. No evidence of spoliation was presented at trial and hence spoliation instructions were improper. The Court also went on to discuss the spoliation evidence since it could arise in a new trial. The Court found no spoliation with regard to the deleted emails since Plaintiff?s deletion of emails occurred before she could have anticipated a lawsuit. The Court found that the disposal of Plaintiff?s laptop and sale of her desktop might be spoliation of evidence if there is reason to believe the deleted emails could be recovered from either computer?s hard drive. If Defendant can present evidence that the emails could have been recovered then the court may grant her an instruction on spoliation.

Nature of Case: Alienation of affections

Electronic Data Involved: Emails, hard drives

IBM Corp. v. Naganayagam, No. 15 Civ. 7991 (NSR) (S.D.N.Y., 2017)

Nov 21 2017

Key Insight: spoliation sanctions

Nature of Case: breach of contract

Electronic Data Involved: e-mails, electronic document

Keywords: spoliation, adverse inference, intent to deprive, 37(e)(2), prejudice 37(e)(1)

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Yoe v. Crescent Sock (E.D. Tenn. , 2017)

Nov 14 2017

Key Insight: was there a duty to preserve, were reasonable steps taken to avoid loss of data, can lost data be restored or replaced, was other party prejudiced by loss

Nature of Case: employment law, intellectual property

Electronic Data Involved: unknown

Keywords: spoliation, intent to deprive, relevance of data, measures no greater than necessary to cure the prejudice

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U.S. EEOC v. GMRI (S.D. Fla., 2017)

Nov 01 2017

Key Insight: whether missing evidence is crucial to movant’s case, whether non-movant had intent to deprive

Nature of Case: employment discrimination

Electronic Data Involved: hard copy, email

Keywords: duty to preserve, litigation hold, permissible inference, bad faith

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Moultrie v. Progressive Direct Ins. Co. (South Carolina District, Charleston Division, 2017)

Oct 18 2017

Key Insight: Party cannot use screenshots not disclosed in discovery to in support of summary judgment motion alleging electronic signature

Nature of Case: insurance coverage litigation

Electronic Data Involved: archived screenshots

Keywords: electronic signature, affirmative signature, meaningful offer, prepopulated

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Catrinar v. Wynnestone Communities Corp., et al., No. 14-11872 (E.D. Mich. Sept. 30, 2017)

Sep 30 2017

Key Insight: Plaintiff produced two versions of email (both dated before filing). Defendant argued one was fake and an attempt to bolster Plaintiff’s claim. Court deemed that dismissal was too harsh a sanction and denied dismissal sanction request.

Nature of Case: Family Medical Leave Act Violations

Electronic Data Involved: E-Mails

Keywords: Duplicate E-mail; Dismissal Sanction

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Moody v. CSX Transportation (W.D.N.Y. , 2017)

Sep 21 2017

Key Insight: failure to take reasonable steps to preserve data, prejudice to other party, intent to deprive

Nature of Case: personal injury

Electronic Data Involved: event recorder data: .dat file

Keywords: reasonable steps, adverse inference, relevance of data, event recorder, black box, laptop crash, prejudice, inferred intent to deprive

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Mitcham v. Americold Logistics, LLC, No. 17-cv-00808-WJM-NYW (D. Colo. Sept. 20, 2017)

Sep 20 2017

Key Insight: Plaintiff had kept a journal which was scanned and provided. Original Hard Copy was then destroyed. Judge granted motion for additional deposition time, but denied adverse inference instruction.

Nature of Case: Employment Discrimination; Wrongful Termination

Electronic Data Involved: Hard Copy of Scanned Journal

Keywords: Sanctions, Adverse Inference, Scanned Copy, Hard Copy

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Barry v. Big M Transportation, No. 1:16-cv-00167-JEO, 2017 WL 3980549 (N.D. Ala. Sept. 11, 2017)

Sep 11 2017

Key Insight: Defendant’s failure to preserve the relevant ESI.

Nature of Case: Motor vehicle accident

Electronic Data Involved: Electronic Data/Electronic Control Module (ECM) Vehicle Data Recorder/Black Box and associated data.

Keywords: Spoliation, ECM data

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Tag:Data Preservation