Key Insight: Plaintiff and Defendant’s motions to compel are both granted and denied in part
Nature of Case: Trademark rights, and when TM protection ends
Electronic Data Involved: e-mails, telephone call, business documents, the product in question, interrogatories
Keywords: Trademark, trade secrets, modification, proportional, executive
Key Insight: ordered forensic examination and sanctions (threatened terminating sanctions) for failure to disclose reconstructed hard drive
Nature of Case: personal injury
Electronic Data Involved: computer files
Keywords: converted motion for sanctions to motion to compel
Key Insight: Sanctions were appropriate for a fraudulently edited email entered into evidence
Nature of Case: Judge removal
Electronic Data Involved: E-mails
Key Insight: Failure to produce discovery and making misrepresentations about the nature and content of documents so as to not produce them.
Nature of Case: trademark infringement
Electronic Data Involved: business documents, text messages, personal messages of employees.
Keywords: Compel, “chinese privacy law” misrepresentation,
Key Insight: whether failure to maintain e-mail website domain and preserve e-mails it contained demonstrated “intent to deprive” under Rule 37(e)
Nature of Case: trade secret
Electronic Data Involved: e-mail, e-mail website domain
Keywords: superfluous
Key Insight: Plaintiff produced cast majority of document after discovery cutoff. Court ruled that this warranted sanctions and excluded them from using those document, jury instruction , excluded their expert testimony and awarded attorneys fees to defendant.
Nature of Case: Breach of Contract
Electronic Data Involved: Cash Transaction Records
Keywords: Sanctions, production after deadline, expert opinions
Key Insight: Attorney sanctions for dishonest conduct and willful interference with discovery process
Nature of Case: Employment discrimination
Keywords: attorney misconduct, dishonest conduct, false testimony
Key Insight: Debt from a sanction for willful/malicious conduct is dischargeable if it is based on the underlying claim
Nature of Case: Breach of Contract
Electronic Data Involved: Document showing payment to vendors, cashier’s check
Keywords: Willful and malicious
Identified State Rule(s): Pa. R. Civ. P. 4019(c)(1)-(5)
Key Insight: Plaintiff was sanctioned for re-litigating issues, ignoring court orders and insisting on overbroad scope of discovery
Nature of Case: products liability
Electronic Data Involved: Documents generally
Keywords: sanctions, scope of discovery, disregarding court orders
Key Insight: Plaintiff’s failure to respond to discovery requests justified dismissal with prejudice and denial of motions for reconsideration.
Nature of Case: personal injury
Keywords: flagrant disregard, dismissal, compel discovery
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