Motion to Compel – Page 134 – Electronic Discovery Law

Portis v. City of Chicago, 2004 WL 2812084 (N.D. Ill. Dec. 7, 2004)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Court clarified its July 7, 2004 order and explained how it intended the costs of compiling the database would be calculated: the number of hours plaintiffs’ computer expert and the paralegals spent on the project, multiplied by their respective hourly billing rates, plus other costs, if any; court quashed defendants’ discovery requests seeking information regarding the salaries paid to computer expert and the paralegals

Nature of Case: Class action for civil rights violations

Electronic Data Involved: Database compiled at direction of plaintiffs’ attorneys

United States v. IBM, 76 F.R.D. 97 (S.D.N.Y. 1977)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Defendant required to produce computerized information; conduct of defendant and technical and complex nature of production warranted appointment of examiner pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 53 to report to the court what materials the defendant possesses and whether defendant produced such material

Nature of Case: Antitrust

Electronic Data Involved: Tapes, files, programs, reports, input and output files

Harvey v. Allstate Ins. Co., 2004 WL 3142228 (W.D. Tenn. Aug. 23, 2004)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Court ordered defendant to supplement interrogatory response where deposition testimony showed that some of the information sought in the interrogatory could be obtained from a simple computer operation

Nature of Case: Insured alleged that insurer’s denial of claim violated 42 U.S.C. ? 1981

Electronic Data Involved: Computerized claim file information

Comm’r of Labor v Ward, 580 S.E.2d 432 (Table, Text in WESTLAW) 2003 WL 21267941 (N.C.Ct. App. 2003)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Where defendants intentionally and willfully refused to comply with court’s discovery orders regarding electronically stored information, sanctions in form of striking defendants’ answer, preventing them from defending against plaintiff’s claims, and granting default judgment was not an abuse of discretion

Nature of Case: Wage and Hour Act violations

Electronic Data Involved: Electronic data

In re Gabapentin Patent Litig., 214 F.R.D. 178 (D.N.J. 2003)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Forwarding or copying email or other documents that are prepared by non-lawyers for business purposes to a lawyer does not transform such email or documents into work product

Nature of Case: Patent infringement

Electronic Data Involved: Email

Laurin v. Pokoik, 2004 WL 2724767 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 30, 2004)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Where plaintiff sought “any document which would evidence the true date when [a particular] entry was actually entered into the computer system,” court ruled that if plaintiff wishes to retain a forensic computer expert at her own expense, she may seek an order that defendant permit the expert to inspect the computer system

Nature of Case: Wrongful termination

Electronic Data Involved: Date of particular data entry in computer system

Positive Software Solutions, Inc. v. New Century Mortgage Corp., 259 F. Supp. 2d 561 (N.D. Tex. 2003)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Court entered preservation order requiring preservation of all extant backups or images of all servers or personal computers containing disputed software or email; court denied motion to compel imaging of all media potentially containing software or electronic evidence relevant to the claims in the suit, and all images of defendants’ computer storage facilities, drives and servers taken to date, as substantially overbroad

Nature of Case: Copyright infringement

Electronic Data Involved: Backups and images of servers, software and email

United States v. Keystone Sanitation Co., 885 F. Supp. 672 (M.D. Pa. 1994)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Inadvertent disclosure of defense attorney’s emails regarding defendants’ disposition of assets in context of massive production constituted subject matter waiver of attorney-client privilege because precautions taken to avoid such disclosure were not reasonable, defendants ordered to produce unredacted attorney billing memoranda relating to issue

Nature of Case: Environmental litigation

Electronic Data Involved: Email

Compuware Corp. v. Moody’s Investors Servs., Inc., 2004 WL 2931401 (E.D. Mich. Dec. 15, 2004)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Court denied motion to compel as to particular request for production where plaintiff offered to provide defendant a set of portable computer disks (at a cost of $40,000) that contained all the documents that plaintiff produced in separate litigation; since defendant had specifically requested these documents, court would not require plaintiff to cull documents that were responsive to another (more narrow) request

Nature of Case: Dispute over defendant’s credit rating of plaintiff

Electronic Data Involved: Computer disks

Gambale v. Deutsche Bank Ag, 2002 WL 31655326 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 21, 2002)

Dec 01 2004

Key Insight: Defendants ordered to provide an affidavit explaining steps taken to search paper and electronic files for responsive documents and feasibility and cost of retrieving certain emails. Plaintiff would then have option of consenting to protocol set forth in Rowe Entertainment as modified by Murphy Oil, or arguing for different protocol by conferring with defendant and submitting a joint letter outlining parties’ respective positions on the issue

Nature of Case: Gender discrimination

Electronic Data Involved: Email and electronic files

Tag:Motion to Compel