TRO – Page 6 – Electronic Discovery Law

Corporate Healthcare Fin., Inc. v. Breedlove, 2006 WL 2400073 (Md. Cir. Ct. Apr. 19, 2006)

Dec 01 2006

Key Insight: Court granted plaintiff’s motion for expedited, limited discovery relating to the fate of five emails containing proprietary and trade secret information, which were sent by defendant from his business email account to his personal email account before his termination; plaintiff allowed limited access to defendant’s personal email account and hard drive, and would be allowed to depose defendant regarding actions taken with respect to subject emails and attachments

Nature of Case: Breach of employment agreement, misappropriation of trade secrets and related claims

Electronic Data Involved: Emails and attachments, personal computer hard drive

Computek Computer & Office Supplies, Inc. v. Walton, 156 S.W.3d 217 (Tex. App. 2005)

Dec 01 2005

Key Insight: Permanent injunction that restrained defendant from “[r]emoving or destroying any files, or copies of files, including but not limited to Defendants’ computer or computer files” was overbroad because it enjoined activities defendant had a legal right to perform, such as deleting records and files that had nothing to do with the subject litigation

Nature of Case: Company sued former employee and his competing business for misappropriation of trade secrets

Electronic Data Involved: Computer files

Advantacare Health Partners, LP v. Access IV, 2005 WL 1398641 (N.D. Cal. June 14, 2005) (Unpublished)

Dec 01 2005

Key Insight: Court denied individual defendant’s motion for reconsideration of default judgment entered against her and other defendants for continued destruction of evidence and continued possession of plaintiff’s proprietary files; although there was no evidence that individual defendant personally engaged in wrongful acts, she was not insulated by simply leaving compliance with court orders to other defendant; further, individual had numerous opportunities to disavow knowledge of misconduct or detail what efforts she personally took to comply with court orders but never did so

Nature of Case: Misapproriation of trade secrets and related torts

Electronic Data Involved: Proprietary information in electronic form

Century ML-Cable Corp. v. Carrillo, 43 F. Supp. 2d 176 (D.P.R. 1998)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Default judgment entered against defendant and attorneys’ fees awarded to plaintiff, pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 37, for defendant’s willful and intentional destruction of laptop presumably containing crucial evidence of defendant’s decoder key modification programs, sale records and customer lists

Nature of Case: Cable TV provider sued businessman for cable TV theft

Electronic Data Involved: Laptop

Propath Services, L.L.P. v. Ameripath, Inc., 2004 WL 2389214 (N.D. Tex. Oct. 21, 2004)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Court entered preliminary injunction prohibiting defendants from, among other things, deleting, destroying or altering any document, email or computer drive containing any ProPath or ProPath related information, and required defendants to segregate said items into a confidential file not to be used in their business

Nature of Case: Contract breach, misappropriation of confidential information, breach of fiduciary duty

Electronic Data Involved: Email and other electronic files

In re CI Host, Inc., 92 S.W.3d 514 (Tex. 2002)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Texas Supreme Court denied defendant’s request for mandamus relief, finding that trial court did not abuse discretion in ordering production of backup tapes since defendant failed to support its objections as required by Tex. R. Civ. P. 193.4(a)

Nature of Case: Class action against web host alleging contract breach, negligence and violation of Deceptive Trade Practices Act

Electronic Data Involved: Backup tapes

QZO, Inc. v. Moyer, 594 S.E.2d 541(S.C. Ct. App. 2004)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: No abuse of discretion for trial court to strike defendant’s answer and enter judgment for plaintiff on issue of liability, where defendant reformatted computer’s hard drive, effectively erasing any information the computer may have contained, a day before surrendering it for court-ordered inspection

Nature of Case: Dispute between former business partners

Electronic Data Involved: Laptop

Comcast of Ill. X, LLC v. Till, 293 F. Supp. 2d 936 (E.D. Wis. 2003)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Court granted plaintiff’s ex parte motion for expedited discovery and for preservation order; defendant ordered not to destroy or remove any books and records, including those stored electronically

Nature of Case: Cable TV provider sued party alleged to have sold illegal decoders

Electronic Data Involved: Email and business records stored on computer

RKI, Inc. v. Grimes, 177 F. Supp. 2d 859 (N.D. Ill. 2001)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Court granted emergency motion to compel, requiring defendants to appear for deposition and produce computers for inspection by plaintiff’s computer forensics expert; at subsequent bench trial, in light of defendants’ deletion of data from computers after litigation commenced, repeated defragmentation of hard drives prior to court-ordered inspections, and decision not to offer any testimony to explain same, court drew adverse inference; court awarded plaintiff $100,000 as royalty for defendants’ unauthorized use of trade secrets, and $150,000 in punitive damages for the willful and malicious misappropriation of trade secrets and attempted cover-up

Nature of Case: Manufacturer sued former employee and competitor for misappropriation of trade secrets and related torts

Electronic Data Involved: Software and databases containing sales and customer information

First Tech. Safety Sys., Inc. v. Depinet, 11 F.3d 641 (6th Cir. 1993)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Ex parte order permitting plaintiff and its counsel, with U.S. Marshal, to enter defendants’ business premises and inventory and impound computer records and copy and inventory business records was abuse of discretion

Nature of Case: Crash test dummy manufacturer sued competitor for unfair competition, copyright infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets and related torts

Electronic Data Involved: Computer programs and printouts

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