Key Insight: Defendant ordered to provide a complete and full response to interrogatory seeking information about Hospital Authority’s computer and email systems; defendant’s “very brief and general response” was insufficient
Nature of Case: Former employee alleged violations of free speech, due process and gender discrimination
Electronic Data Involved: Information re computer and email systems
Key Insight: Order compelling defendant surgeon to produce his surgical database, to include information related to all the cholecystectomy procedures defendant had ever performed (with the patient names redacted) was abuse of discretion; matter remanded with directions that the court examine the database contents in camera to determine relevance and privilege issues
Nature of Case: Medical malpractice
Electronic Data Involved: Surgical database maintained by defendant surgeon
Key Insight: Court denied plaintiff’s motion to compel defendants to provide affidavits of all employees with access to employment databases and hiring practices, in order to establish whether any documents or data was destroyed, since discovery had been closed for one year and there was no evidence that defendants had destroyed documents
Nature of Case: Employment discrimination
Electronic Data Involved: Hiring and employment database and records
Key Insight: Plaintiff denied access to hard drives of computers acquired by defendant after alleged torts took place
Nature of Case: Tortious interference, misappropriation of trade secrets, defamation
Electronic Data Involved: Hard drives (to locate email)
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
Key Insight: Granting motion to compel defendant to produce email from backup tapes notwithstanding fact that restoration and retrieval costs may approach $100,000, court stated: “Upon installing a data storage system, it must be assumed that at some point in the future one may need to retrieve the information previously stored. That there may be deficiencies in the retrieval system (or inconvenience and cost associated with the actual retrieval) cannot be sufficient to defeat an otherwise good faith request to examine relevant information . . .”
Nature of Case: Valuation dispute arising as result of two merger agreements
Electronic Data Involved: Email stored on monthly backup tapes
Key Insight: No abuse of discretion to deny enforcement of subpoena directed to plaintiffs’ nonparty company where defendants had already deposed plaintiffs and conceded that the company would have no additional information, plaintiffs would be designated Rule 30(b)(6) witnesses if discovery were allowed, and plaintiffs had already produced email from their business accounts and remained under a continuing obligation to supplement their earlier productions
Nature of Case: Ancillary proceeding to enforce subpoena
Electronic Data Involved: Email
Key Insight: Appellate court granted writ and quashed trial court’s order granting party’s motion for leave to inspect non-party’s computer system; remanded with directions to trial court to craft a narrowly-tailored order that sets parameters and limitations on the inspection
Nature of Case: Insurance bad faith
Electronic Data Involved: Computer system; records of payments to physicians
Key Insight: Motion to compel production of computer-generated salary data granted; court further ordered parties to preserve all relevant evidence including all data compilations, computerized data and other electronically-recorded information
Nature of Case: Employment discrimination
Electronic Data Involved: Computerized payroll records
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
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