Archive - December 15, 2004

In re Ford Motor Co., 345 F.3d 1315 (11th Cir. 2003)

Personal injury plaintiff alleged that seatbelt buckle was defectively designed because it “inertially unlatched” during an accident, causing her injuries. Plaintiff filed a motion to compel seeking direct access to two Ford databases for the purpose of conducting searches for related claims; one database contained records of all customer contacts with Ford, and the other contained records of contacts by dealers, personnel and other sources. Read More

Renda Marine, Inc. v. United States, 58 Fed.Cl. 57 (2003)

Plaintiff moved to compel defendant to produce e-mail and related documents, asserting that, based on defendant’s own admission, defendant did not search any hard drives or back-up tapes in preparing its response to plaintiff’s document production requests. The requests specifically asked for back-up tapes. In addition, plaintiff sought access to the hard drive of a key player, based upon his admission that it is his practice to delete emails after sending or responding to them. 2003 WL 22427413, at *2. Read More

Keir v. Unumprovident Corp., 2003 WL 21997747 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 22, 2003)

In ERISA action, parties engaged in two months of discovery, an evidentiary hearing, briefing and oral argument to address defendant’s failure to preserve backup tapes containing email from six particular days. Read More

Zubulake v. UBS Warburg LLC, 216 F.R.D. 280 (S.D.N.Y. 2003) (“Zubulake III”)

After reviewing the results of the sample restoration, plaintiff moved for an order compelling defendant to produce all remaining backup emails at its expense. The sample restoration netted approximately 600 responsive emails, costing defendant $19,003 for restoration, attorney review and paralegal work associated with the production. The defendant asked that the cost of any further production – estimated to be $273,649 (including $165,955 to restore and search the tapes and $107,695 in attorney and paralegal review costs) – be shifted to plaintiff. Read More

Kucala Enter., Ltd. V. Auto Wax Co., Inc., 2003 WL 21230605 (N.D. Ill. May 28, 2003)

Competitor sought declaratory judgment that defendant’s patent for a particular type of automobile detailing clay was invalid. Defendant sought discovery relating to plaintiff’s manufacturing process, and the court ordered the production to be via computer files or hard copy. Read More

Zubulake v. UBS Warburg LLC, 217 F.R.D. 309 (S.D.N.Y. 2003) (“Zubulake I”)

Plaintiff in employment discrimination suit contended that key evidence was located in various emails exchanged among defendant’s employees that existed only on backup tapes and perhaps other archived media. According to defendant, restoration of the emails would cost approximately $175,000, exclusive of attorney review time. Plaintiff moved for an order compelling the defendant to produce the email at its own expense. Read More

Medtronic Sofamor Danek, Inc. v. Michelson, 56 Fed.R.Serv.3d 1159, 2003 WL 21468573 (W.D. Tenn. May 13, 2003)

In case involving trade secrets, patents and trade information in the field of spinal fusion medical technology, defendant moved for production of 996 network backup tapes containing, among other things, electronic mail, plus an estimated 300 gigabytes of other electronic data not in a backed-up format. Read More

Nartron Corp. v. Gen. Motors Corp., 2003 WL 1985261 (Mich. Ct. App. Apr. 29, 2003)

In contract breach action, plaintiff claimed that GMC prematurely discontinued use of component part, which plaintiff had developed based on GMC’s projections of large volume purchases over an extended period of time. Plaintiff sought damages for research and development costs associated with the component part; consequently, evidence of plaintiff’s R & D payroll was a primary focus of discovery. Read More

Dodge, Warren & Peters Ins. Services, Inc. v. Riley, 130 Cal.Rptr.2d 385 (Cal. Ct. App. 2003)

Insurance brokerage firm sued former employees who, before forming their own firm, copied and removed documents maintained in files and computer storage media for their own future use. Read More

Metropolitan Opera Association, Inc. v. Local 100, 212 F.R.D. 178 (S.D.N.Y. 2003)

Similar to Danis v. USN Communications, Inc., 2000 WL 1694325 (N.D. Ill. Oct. 23, 2000), this case chronicles the myriad failings and misrepresentations of defense counsel regarding discovery obligations. Read More