FRCP 34(b) Procedure or Format – Page 7

McKinney/Pearl Rest. Partners, L.P. v. Metro. Life Ins. Co., No. 3:14-cv-2498-B, 2016 WL 98603 (N.D. Tex. Jan. 8, 2016)

Dec 01 2016

Key Insight: In this case, the court addressed Plaintiff?s motion to compel ?the production and organization of certain documents and metadata? and considered the applicability of Fed. R. Civ. P. 34(b)(2)(E)(i) and (ii) to the production of electronically stored information. Ultimately, ?[t]he Court [found] persuasive the analysis that, where Rule 34(b)(2)(E)(i) addresses the organization of a production and Rule 34(b)(2)(E)(ii) specifically addresses the form for producing ESI (where form of production is inherently not an issue with hard-copy documents), and in light of the purposes of the 2006 amendments to Rule 34 and of Rule 34(b)(2)(E)(i)?s requirements, Rules 34(b)(2)(E)(i) and 34(b)(2)(E)(ii) should both apply to ESI productions.?

Nature of Case: Breach of commercial lease agreement

Electronic Data Involved: ESI

Frye v. CSX Transp., Inc., No. 14-cv-11996, 2016 WL 2758268 (E.D. Mich. May 12, 2016)

Dec 01 2016

Key Insight: Court entered order requiring production of software necessary to review responsive data and ordered that either Defendant would ?provide Plaintiff with a laptop computer loaded with a copy of the responsive data and the software necessary to review that data, to be used solely for the purposes of this litigation and to be returned to Defendants once the litigation is complete? or that Plaintiff could procure a license for the necessary software and be reimbursed by Defendant

Nature of Case: Wrongful death

Electronic Data Involved: Software necessary to review responsive data

Wai Feng Trading Co. v. Quick Fitting, Inc., Nos. 13-33S, 13-56S, 2016 WL 4184014 (D.R.I. June 14, 2016)

Dec 01 2016

Key Insight: Following several extensions of discovery, court addressed motion to compel production of documents and email in native format and, noting that a particular format was not requested and that the parties? had consistently produced documents in hard copy or in searchable PDF format, found that only two documents ?arguably might contain metadata that could be relevant? and ordered that those documents be produced, but shifted the costs to the requesting party

Nature of Case: Theft of intellectual property, breach of contract

Electronic Data Involved: Emails, database, ESI

Midwest Feeders, Inc. v. The Bank of Franklin (S.D. Mississippi, 2016)

Jul 19 2016

Key Insight: if images of hard drives is sufficient prodcution of the hard drives themselves

Nature of Case: Fraud, conversion of instruments, failure to exercise ordinary care

Electronic Data Involved: all computers midwest obtained and the information on those computers at the time they were obtained

Keywords: hard drives, forensic imaging

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Gade v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. (District of Vermont, 2016)

Jun 06 2016

Key Insight: When the productions of underlying information (exact Excel formulas in this case) may disclose proprietary information, a supplemental disclosure explaining the underlying reasons may be a suitable replacement

Nature of Case: Automobile insurance coverage

Electronic Data Involved: Excel spreadsheet formulas

Keywords: Excel, formulas, moot, metadata, award of sanctions, expenses, fees

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First Fin. Sec., Inc v. Lee (D. Minn, 2016)

Mar 08 2016

Key Insight: Magistrate recommended sanctions for defendants’ willful failure to comply with his discovery order. No finding of bad faith.

Nature of Case: Breach of contract.

Electronic Data Involved: Defendant emails and text messages.

Keywords: “Strong circumstantial evidence” that the defendants had concealed documents. Adverse inference instructions and legal costs imposed by court.

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Stormo v. City of Sioux Falls, No. 12-04057 (D. S.D. Feb. 19, 2016)

Feb 19 2016

Key Insight: Providing a document index is not overly burdensome. Production of metadata cannot be compelled without showing that metadata is relevant..

Nature of Case: violation of civil rights as a landowner

Electronic Data Involved: metadata, electronically stored data, document index

Keywords: adequacy of production, metadata relevancy

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Granados v. Traffic Bar and Restaurant, Inc. (S.D.N.Y., 2015)

Dec 30 2015

Key Insight: if sanctions can be granted for inconsistent and incomplete response from opposing party

Nature of Case: violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the New York Labor Law

Electronic Data Involved: initial interrogatories and verifications

Keywords: spoliation, sanctions, default judgment, defunct business, unreachable party

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Burnett v. Ford Motor Co., No. 3:13?cv?14207, 2015 WL 1650439 (S.D. W. Va. April 14, 2015); Burd v. Ford Motor Co., No. 3:13?cv?20976, 2015 WL 1650447 (S.D. W. Va. April 14, 2015); Johnson v. Ford Motor Co., No. 3:13?cv?06529, 2015 WL 1650428 (S.D. W. Va. April 14, 2015)

Dec 01 2015

Key Insight: Inadvertently produced ESI

Nature of Case: Product Liability

Lutzeier v. Citigroup Inc., No. 4:14-cv-00183-RLW, 2015 WL 430196 (E.D. Mo. Feb 2, 2015)

Dec 01 2015

Key Insight: Addressing Plaintiff?s motion to add custodians, the court granted the motion, in part, but declined to compel the addition of high-level executives absent a showing that they had ?unique or personal knowledge of the subject matter that warrants their information?; Court found that the current ?search criteria adequately ensure[d]? the production of relevant documents and declined Plaintiff?s request for additional search terms except the phrase ?consent order? where confusion existed as to the existence of ?other? consent orders relevant to the case; where plaintiff was unsatisfied with Defendant?s production of more than 46,000 documents ?without providing any indication as to which documents are responsive to which of Plaintiff?s fifty-eight (58 ) enumerated requests,? but where the defendant represented that their production was ?fully text-searchable and contain[s] metadata permitting Plaintiff to identify, among other things, the custodians of the document, recipients, date and other key information,? the court found that the production was ?in a reasonably useable form or forms and/or the production is searchable, sortable and paired with relevant metadata? and thus was compliant with the parties? ESI agreement and with Rule 34

Nature of Case: Wrongful discharge; Age Discrimination; Dodd Frank; Sarbanes-Oxley

Electronic Data Involved: ESI

Tag:FRCP 34(b) Procedure or Format