Catagory:Case Summaries

1
Sweltic Chiropractic & Rehab. Ctr, Inc. v. Foot Levelers, Inc., No. 2:16-cv-236, 2016 WL 1657922 (S.D. Ohio Apr. 27, 2016)
2
Ferrara Bros. Bldg. Materials Corp. v. FMC Constr. LLC, 54 Misc.3d 529 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 2016)
3
Assoc. Elec. & Gas Ins. Servs. V. BendTec, Inc., No. 14-1602(MJD/LIB), 2016 WL 740409 (D. Minn. Feb. 24, 2016)
4
Allen v. City of Chicago, No. 10 C 3183, 2016 WL 1070828 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 16, 2016)
5
Stinson v. City of New York, No. 10 Civ. 4228(RWS), 2016 WL 54684 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 5, 2016)
6
Moore v. Lowe?s Home Centers, LLC, No. 14-1459 RJB, 2016 WL 687111 (W.D. Wash. Feb. 19, 2016)
7
Browder v. City of Albuquerque, —F.Supp.3d—, 2016 WL 3397659 (D.N.M. May 9, 2016)
8
Duhigg v. Goodwill Indus., No. 8:15CV91, 2016 WL 4991480 (D. Neb. Sept. 16, 2016)
9
Boyington v Percheron Field Servs., LLC, No. 3:14-CV-90, 2016 WL 6068813 (W.D. Pa. Oct. 14, 2016)
10
Procom Heating, Inc. v. GHP Group, Inc., No. 1:13-cv-00163-GNS, 2016 WL 8203221 (W.D. Ky. July 8, 2016)

Sweltic Chiropractic & Rehab. Ctr, Inc. v. Foot Levelers, Inc., No. 2:16-cv-236, 2016 WL 1657922 (S.D. Ohio Apr. 27, 2016)

Key Insight: Where third party refused to preserve potentially relevant evidence absent a court order and maintained a retention policy that would result in the automatic deletion of the at-issue information, court granted in part Plaintiff?s motion to compel preservation (finding that the requested scope of preservation appeared overly broad) but declined to compel forensic imaging

Nature of Case: Telephone Consumer Protection Act

Electronic Data Involved: Fax transmission reports and other ESI identifying fax numbers that received advertisements

Allen v. City of Chicago, No. 10 C 3183, 2016 WL 1070828 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 16, 2016)

Key Insight: Addressing Defendant?s request for $16,200.00 in costs charged by third party vendor who assisted in email production, including $16,000 for ?Digital Tech Time per GB: Tiff Conversion, OCR, Endorse & Export for Searchable PDF,? court concluded that converting files to TIFF or PDF was the equivalent of ?making copies? and was recoverable but that costs for making a document searchable are not recoverable; where Defendant failed to provide an adequate breakdown of the costs for each service provided, court reduced the requested recovery and awarded $4,000 for the ?Tiff conversion portion of the invoice? and also awarded $200 for the cost of two hard drives utilized for the email production

Electronic Data Involved: Taxable costs ( 28 U.S.C. ? 1920(4))

Stinson v. City of New York, No. 10 Civ. 4228(RWS), 2016 WL 54684 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 5, 2016)

Key Insight: Court found Defendants? discovery failures, including failing to implement a litigation hold for three years, failing to adequately communicate the hold, and failure to ensure compliance with the litigation hold were grossly negligent and imposed a permissive adverse inference as a sanction; court?s analysis included the admonition that ?the reasonableness or unreasonableness of one party?s demands does not determine the scope of the other party?s obligation to preserve documents?

Nature of Case: Class action civil rights

Electronic Data Involved: ESI: email, text messages, har copy

Moore v. Lowe?s Home Centers, LLC, No. 14-1459 RJB, 2016 WL 687111 (W.D. Wash. Feb. 19, 2016)

Key Insight: Court declined to compel Defendant to conduct additional searches of witnesses? email accounts using 88 new search terms and excluding Plaintiff?s name finding that the request was ?overly broad and not proportional to the case? and reasoning that Plaintiff relied upon a multi-plaintiff case to justify her position and that she had not provided specifics regarding what she reasonably expected to find or shown that the information could not be found through other means, such as by asking additional questions of witnesses already scheduled for deposition ; court ordered Defendant to produce the relevant policies it operated under where Defendant claimed emails were deleted in the ordinary course of business according to Company policy, and that Defendant should also provide Plaintiff with the date of the deletion and the name of the person who made the deletion or the process of deletion, if known

Nature of Case: Wrongful termination

Electronic Data Involved: Email

Browder v. City of Albuquerque, —F.Supp.3d—, 2016 WL 3397659 (D.N.M. May 9, 2016)

Key Insight: Addressing loss of cellular phone(a tangible thing) belonging to officer involved in off-duty traffic accident despite a letter from plaintiff specifically requesting preservation and providing notice of imminent litigation, court found the city was at least grossly negligent in its failure to preserve and that Plaintiff was prejudiced as a result but fell short of finding that the loss was the result of bad faith and ordered production of documents previously withheld under claim of privilege and that the jury would be instructed that it may make ?any inference they believe appropriate in light of the spoliation?

Nature of Case: Traffic accident

Electronic Data Involved: Cellular Phone

Duhigg v. Goodwill Indus., No. 8:15CV91, 2016 WL 4991480 (D. Neb. Sept. 16, 2016)

Key Insight: Court denied Plaintiff?s motion to compel the production of emails containing Plaintiff?s name as a search hit and granted in part Defendant?s motion for a protective order where Defendant established that the emails were not reasonably accessible in light of the time and minimum costs of production, estimated at $45,825, and where the court also found they were not proportional to the needs of the case; although the court found Plaintiff?s proposed terms overbroad (her name) the court disagreed with Defendant?s time limitation on its own search for emails where prior discriminatory acts, even if not actionable, could be used as background evidence and ordered the parties to meet and confer regarding appropriate search terms to be used to search the accounts of 3 custodians over a 4 year period

Nature of Case: Employment discrimination

Electronic Data Involved: Emails

Boyington v Percheron Field Servs., LLC, No. 3:14-CV-90, 2016 WL 6068813 (W.D. Pa. Oct. 14, 2016)

Key Insight: Plaintiffs sought to compel production of all emails sent to or from any of the Plaintiffs through a Percheron account. The Court found the emails were relevant because they may shed light on informal work policies, hours worked, and serve as a potential cross-reference to the other records kept by Defendant. Analyzing proportionality, the Court concluded that the importance of the issues (to the Plaintiffs), the amount in controversy (alleged to be ?in excess of several million dollars?), the resources of the parties, the parties? relative access to the information and the importance of the discovery in resolving the issues weighed in favor of Plaintiffs/production. Regarding whether the burden of discovery outweighed the benefit, the Court acknowledged Defendant?s claim that the review ?would likely cost $735,000-$798,964 and take a team of 20 attorneys 12 weeks to complete,? but reasoned that the Court?s refusal to compel production of certain email categories would lessen the estimated costs and that Defendant?s inability to provide certain data had caused Plaintiffs to have to ?puzzle together damages? and concluded that the request did not ?run afoul? of proportionality. The court also relied on Defendants prior agreement to produce the emails. Addressing Plaintiffs? motion to compel information regarding Defendant?s preservation efforts, the court ordered production of the names of those that received litigation holds and related information, but declined to order the litigation holds themselves.

Nature of Case: Fair Labor Standards Act

Electronic Data Involved: Emails, Information re: litigation hold notices

Procom Heating, Inc. v. GHP Group, Inc., No. 1:13-cv-00163-GNS, 2016 WL 8203221 (W.D. Ky. July 8, 2016)

Key Insight: Where Defendant formulated search terms and identified custodians unilaterally before undertaking its search and where plaintiff suspected the results were insufficient based on both the low volume of information produced and the failure to produce certain expected information (based on third parties? productions), the court considered Defendant?s multiple proposals for addressing the issue and determined that starting again, from scratch, was most appropriate; addressing whether the cost was disproportionate, court declined to characterize the costs as ?additional expense,? reasoning that Defendant ?should have resolved these issues before undertaking its unilateral search?

Nature of Case: Patent infringement

Electronic Data Involved: ESI

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