Key Insight: Failure to produce; Sanctions; Proportionality
Nature of Case: Trademark & Copyright infringement
Electronic Data Involved: Hard copy; correspondence; email
Keywords: “Functional employee”; Consultant; Third-party communications; Privilege; Spoliation; Unfair prejudice; Attorney’s fees and costs; Proportionality; Access/Resources;
Key Insight: whether the issue of spoliation could be brought before the jury to decide if evidence was withheld and if that was justified
Nature of Case: personal injury, motor vehicle
Electronic Data Involved: Log books of defendant
Keywords: spoliation, jury instruction, question of law/fact
Key Insight: discovery requests overbroad
Nature of Case: telephone consumer protection act
Electronic Data Involved: general discovery
Keywords: scope of relevant discovery, class action
Key Insight: withholding discovery on the basis that forensic imaging isn’t under the scope
Nature of Case: trade secrets, unfair trade practices, unfair competition
Electronic Data Involved: Defendant’s laptop and associated harddrives
Keywords: scrubbed metadata, forensic imaging, hard drives, scope of discovery, bad faith litigation
Key Insight: defendants perpetrated fraud and acted in bad faith when not disclosing test results of defective product
Nature of Case: product liability
Electronic Data Involved: product test results that were not disclosed
Keywords: fraud, bad faith, disclosure, confidentiality
Identified Local Court Rule(s): Maricopa county local practice rule 2.19, 5.4
Identified State Rule(s): 26(c)(1), 26(c)(1)(G), 26(c)(4)(A)
Key Insight: Sanctions, Efforts to Thwart discovery, Fraudulent Concealment
Nature of Case: Estates and Trusts
Electronic Data Involved: Hard copy
Keywords: fraudulent concealment, Statute of Limitations, Sanctions, Violation of Court Orders, Failure to produce, Death Penalty sanction, Obstruction, Temporary injunction, Deception of the Court
Identified State Rule(s): Tex. R. Civ. P. 199.3; Tex.R. Civ. P. 176 .8 (a)
Key Insight: Party could still be sanctioned to pay expert fees where party unsuccessfully altered evidence.
Nature of Case: Automobile accident.
Electronic Data Involved: Photographs and videos.
Keywords: “altering” “deleting” “deliberate[ly]” “computer scientist” “Facebook post”
Key Insight: Sanctions granted for first claiming withholding all responsive documents, then claiming there were no responsive documents. Protective Order violated by using information obtained under protective order to locate public information.
Nature of Case: false advertising/trademark infringement
Electronic Data Involved: Document related to claimed settlement achieved
Keywords: privilege, sanctions
Key Insight: Whether the private arbitration panel in this case is considered a “foreign or international tribunal” and therefore whether discovery may be ordered under section 1782(a)
Nature of Case: contract dispute, application for arbitration discovery
Electronic Data Involved: arbitration discovery and “foreign or international tribunal”
Keywords: arbitration, ordered discovery, “foreign or international tribunal”
Key Insight: ordered to produce a sample of 10 calls chosen by requesting party to see if information duplicative
Nature of Case: RICO
Electronic Data Involved: audio recordings of phone calls
Keywords: credit collector sues firm representing debtors
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