Key Insight: Social media information is not specially protected, but discovery requests should be tailored so as to not become fishing expeditions.
Nature of Case: employment discrimination, federal false claims act
Electronic Data Involved: Social media postings
Keywords: Social media, proportionality
Key Insight: Discovery request for managers’ text messages was ruled overbroad and not likely to be useful due to store policy that managers only communicate via email or voicemail.
Nature of Case: Fair Labor Standards Act dispute
Electronic Data Involved: text messages, email, communication methods the managers could have possibly used
Keywords: Text messages, overbreadth, overbroad, relevance
Key Insight: Plaintiff requested Defendant run 72 “spelling variations” of 5 terms allowed by prior court order. Court denied and allowed 20, but did not apply sanctions yet.
Nature of Case: Libel/Slander
Electronic Data Involved: Various ESI
Keywords: search terms; sanctions; cooperation
Key Insight: personnel file related to settlement and claims handling was ordered to be produced with some confidentiality and redactions to protect personal information of adjuster.
Nature of Case: bad faith
Electronic Data Involved: adjusters personnel file
Keywords: personnel file
Key Insight: Compelling ESI prematurely is not needed if the records will be preserved throughout litigation
Nature of Case: malicious prosecution
Electronic Data Involved: emails, documents
Keywords: Scope of ESI search terms, willingness to produce
Key Insight: Plaintiff requested information related to outside counsel’s evaluation of claims. Court granted, but limited original request.
Nature of Case: Insurance breach of contract and bad faith
Electronic Data Involved: Various documents related to claims investigations; primarily related to outside counsel evaluations.
Keywords: scope; outside counsel; evaluation of claim
Key Insight: proportionality
Nature of Case: class action
Electronic Data Involved: backup tapes
Keywords: undue burden, statistical sampling, restoration, reasonably accessible, cooperation, interrogatory, relevance
Key Insight: How much access of a party’s electronic information system does rule 34(a) give a party?
Nature of Case: Trade secrets
Electronic Data Involved: Responsive documents
Keywords: ESI protocol, Forensic images, overly broad
Key Insight: Defendants request for social media posts was too broad and needed to be even more specifically directed to claims in case.
Nature of Case: personal injury
Electronic Data Involved: Social Media Posts
Keywords: social media; scope
Key Insight: Court found dismissal was a disproportionate sanction for failure to preserve text messages lost when phone was dropped and broken but did conclude that Plaintiff and her counsel failed to take ?reasonable steps to preserve? those texts which resided only on Plaintiff?s phone, reasoning that ?[o]nce it is clear that a litigant has ESI that is relevant to reasonably anticipated litigation, steps should be taken to preserve that material, such as printing out the texts, making an electronic copy of such texts, cloning the phone, or even taking possession of the phone and instructing the client to simply get another one?; court indicated defendant would be free to examine witnesses who had read the texts and explore the circumstances surrounding their destruction and further indicated that the court had not ruled out a spoliation instruction, an option reserved until after the court heard the evidence at trial
Nature of Case: Employment litigation
Electronic Data Involved: Explicit text messages
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