Motion to Compel – Page 133 – Electronic Discovery Law

Portis v. City of Chicago, 2004 WL 1535854 (N.D. Ill. July 7, 2004)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Court granted motion to compel access to database constituting fact work product, where requesting party demonstrated (1) substantial need for the information and (2) undue hardship were it required to compile a similar database from scratch; however, requesting party would have to contribute its fair share toward the expenses incurred in compiling the database

Nature of Case: Class action for civil rights violations

Electronic Data Involved: Database compiled at direction of plaintiffs’ attorneys

Toledo Fair Hous. Ctr. v. Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co., 703 N.E.2d 340 (Ohio 1996)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Requiring insurer to create programs to retrieve and put in usable form information from its databases at its own expense, court stated: “[A] party cannot avoid discovery when its own recordkeeping system makes discovery burdensome. If a party chooses to store information in a manner that tends to conceal rather than reveal, that party bears the burden of putting the information in a format useable by others.” However, court did order that request for computer-generated reports be narrowed.

Nature of Case: Minority homeowners brought civil rights action alleging that insurer engaged in redlining to avoid minority neighborhoods

Electronic Data Involved: Insurer’s databases and computer-generated reports

Pamlab, L.L.C. v. Rite Aid Corp., 2004 WL 2988482 (E.D. La. Dec. 9, 2004)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Where certain information was not available through defendant’s computer system and cost of recovering information through physical search could exceed damages claimed, court ruled that “prudent course” would be to place cost of physical search on plaintiff and instructed parties to develop a protocol for manual inspection of records at ten (of 3,000) stores; court further ordered defendant to provide available computer records

Nature of Case: Drug company claimed drug store chain improperly substituted one drug for another

Electronic Data Involved: Computer databases

Pamlab, L.L.C. v. Rite Aid Corp., 2004 WL 2358106 (E.D. La. Oct. 13, 2004)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Court ruled that plaintiff should determine, either informally or during a corporate deposition of defendant, what information responsive to interrogatory could be retrieved from defendant?s computer system and what could only be retrieved manually; to the extent the information could only be retrieved manually, parties were ordered to attempt to agree on a sampling process

Electronic Data Involved: Computer databases

Comcast of Los Angeles, Inc. v. Top End Int’l, Inc., 2003 WL 22251149 (C.D. Cal. July 2, 2003)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Defendants could not assert the privilege against self-incrimination to resist production of corporate records; court ordered individual defendants to produce all the business records on their computers

Nature of Case: Cable TV provider sued defendants alleging a scheme to illegally manufacture and sell cable TV descramblers

Electronic Data Involved: Computerized sales data

Fresenius Med. Care Holding Inc. v. Baxter Int’l, Inc., 224 F.R.D. 644 (N.D. Cal. 2004)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Magistrate found good cause to grant motion to compel where deponent identified source code in deposition which had not been produced; court ordered defendant to produce sworn declaration setting forth the specific efforts it made to locate responsive documents and either a certification that all documents have been produced, or an explanation of why the documents have not yet been produced

Nature of Case: Patent infringement

Electronic Data Involved: Source code

Lakewood Eng’g & Mfg. Co. v. Lasko Prods., Inc., 2003 WL 1220254 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 14, 2003)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Although plaintiff’s production of relevant email and other documents in electronic form after the close of discovery demonstrated lack of good faith effort to produce all requested discovery in timely manner, sanctions were not warranted

Nature of Case: Patent infringement

Electronic Data Involved: Email and other documents in electronic form

Portis v. City of Chicago, 2004 WL 2812084 (N.D. Ill. Dec. 7, 2004)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Court clarified its July 7, 2004 order and explained how it intended the costs of compiling the database would be calculated: the number of hours plaintiffs’ computer expert and the paralegals spent on the project, multiplied by their respective hourly billing rates, plus other costs, if any; court quashed defendants’ discovery requests seeking information regarding the salaries paid to computer expert and the paralegals

Nature of Case: Class action for civil rights violations

Electronic Data Involved: Database compiled at direction of plaintiffs’ attorneys

Uniroyal Chem. Co. Inc. v. Syngenta Crop Protection, 224 F.R.D. 53 (D. Conn. 2004)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Where plaintiff demonstrated that allowing defendant unrestricted access to database would result in a clearly defined and serious injury, court held that plaintiff’s “confidential – attorneys’ eyes only” designation was appropriate and denied motion to compel

Nature of Case: Contract dispute

Electronic Data Involved: Database containing research data

Bell v. Woodward Governor Co., 2004 WL 3121301 (N.D. Ill. Dec. 20, 2004)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Where defendant represented that it had not located any other responsive documents which were not previously produced, court ordered defendant, with seven days of receipt of the order, to: (1) confirm that a reasonable search for the subject documents was conducted and indicate what the manner of the search was, (2) produce responsive documents, (3) confirm if no responsive documents exist, and (4) confirm instances where the documents were destroyed, indicating by whom and when, if possible

Nature of Case: Class action for race discrimination

Electronic Data Involved: Email and other documents

Tag:Motion to Compel