Case Summaries – Page 417 – Electronic Discovery Law

Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, Inc. v. Home Indem. Co., 1991 WL 111040 (E.D. Pa. June 17, 1991)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Court rejected insurers’ contentions that requested discovery was impossible insofar as they were grounded in the particular manner in which defendants maintain their records and computer systems; cost of discovery to be borne by insurers, but plaintiffs to pay costs of copying documents selected

Nature of Case: Declaratory judgment re insurance coverage

Electronic Data Involved: Insurance information from claim files

Stallings v. Daniels, 583 S.E.2d 428 (Table, Text in WESTLAW), 2003 WL 21791751 (N.C. App. Aug. 5, 2003) (Unpublished)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Appellate court reversed trial court’s dismissal of suit; backup tape of plaintiff’s earlier court proceeding was public record under state statute and defendants were required to permit plaintiff to examine and inspect the backup tape

Nature of Case: Suit to compel disclosure of public records

Electronic Data Involved: Backup tape containing sound recording of a hearing in a separate lawsuit

Timpken Co. v. United States, 659 F. Supp. 239 (Ct. Int’l Trade 1987)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Defendant ordered to provide copies of computer tapes containing data previously provided in hard copy form

Nature of Case: Challenge of decision by Dept. of Commerce to deny plaintiff access to computer tapes in trade investigation

Electronic Data Involved: Computer tapes containing costs and sales data

United States v. Visa USA, Inc., 1999 WL 476437 (S.D.N.Y. Jul. 7, 1999)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Parties agreed to narrow the scope of archived email search, both in terms of the number of employees whose email was to be produced and the number of days per month for which that email was to be produced; defendants to bear cost of production ($130,000) initially, but court reserved decision about who ultimately would bear cost; court denied plaintiff’s request that defendant make its production available on CD-ROM

Nature of Case: Antitrust

Electronic Data Involved: Archived email

YCA, LLC v. Berry, 2004 WL 1093385 (N.D. Ill May 7, 2004)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Court denied defendant’s motion to strike the testimony of plaintiff’s computer expert (who recovered “plethora” of deleted documents from defendant’s old YCA computer) since any delay in disclosing the expert and the recovered material was justified given defendant’s failure to disclose that his old computer might contain relevant evidence

Nature of Case: Breach of nondisclosure agreement, tortious interference

Electronic Data Involved: Deleted documents, computer hard drive

Bovis Lend Lease, LMB, Inc. v. Seasons Contracting Corp., 2002 WL 31729693 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 5, 2002)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Various emails among claims handlers, supervisors, in-house counsel and outside counsel were protected from discovery by either attorney-client privilege, work product doctrine, or both; however, voluntary production of certain emails waived protections; inadvertent disclosure may waive protections if reasonable precautions were not taken to guard against inadvertent disclosure

Nature of Case: Insurance coverage

Electronic Data Involved: Email

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

Dziadkiewicz v. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of R.I., 2004 WL 2418308 (D.R.I. Oct. 13, 2004)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Since defendant failed to timely produce database dictionary and did not produce all of its expert’s relevant email, court granted motion to compel production of expert’s email; court further granted plaintiff’s request to reconvene expert’s deposition and would allow plaintiff’s expert to review additional material produced and modify his conclusions accordingly

Nature of Case: ERISA litigation

Electronic Data Involved: Email and database dictionary

Gorgen Co. v. Brecht, 2002 WL 977467 (Minn. Ct. App. May 14, 2002) (Unpublished)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Order granting ex parte TRO before complaint was filed, and which prohibited defendants from destroying or altering electronic documents pertaining to complaint, was abuse of discretion

Nature of Case: Misappropriation of trade secrets

Electronic Data Involved: Electronic documents

Inst. for Motivational Living, Inc. v. Doulos Inst. for Strategic Consulting, Inc., 2004 WL 2241745 (3rd Cir. Oct. 5, 2004) (Unpublished)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Appellate court ruled that trial court did not err in awarding sanctions and finding defendant in civil contempt where, moments before he signed settlement agreement and in violation of discovery preservation order, defendant deleted files from laptop that was to be returned to plaintiff; however, case would be remanded so that trial court could determine what amount of attorneys’ fees fairly reflect compensation for defendant’s contumacious conduct

Nature of Case: Copyright and trademark infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets

Electronic Data Involved: Files stored on laptop computer

Catagory:Case Summaries