Key Insight: Email stored in government computers does not automatically become public records by virtue of that storage; private or personal email fell outside the statutory definition of “public records”
Nature of Case: Newspaper sued city to release as public record all email sent from or received by two city employees
Electronic Data Involved: Email
Key Insight: Requiring insurer to create programs to retrieve and put in usable form information from its databases at its own expense, court stated: “[A] party cannot avoid discovery when its own recordkeeping system makes discovery burdensome. If a party chooses to store information in a manner that tends to conceal rather than reveal, that party bears the burden of putting the information in a format useable by others.” However, court did order that request for computer-generated reports be narrowed.
Nature of Case: Minority homeowners brought civil rights action alleging that insurer engaged in redlining to avoid minority neighborhoods
Electronic Data Involved: Insurer’s databases and computer-generated reports
Key Insight: Where plaintiff demonstrated that allowing defendant unrestricted access to database would result in a clearly defined and serious injury, court held that plaintiff’s “confidential – attorneys’ eyes only” designation was appropriate and denied motion to compel
Nature of Case: Contract dispute
Electronic Data Involved: Database containing research data
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
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
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
Key Insight: District court upheld magistrate’s order requiring defendants to produce all responsive electronic information in native format
Nature of Case: Securities class action
Electronic Data Involved: Emails
Key Insight: Plaintiffs required to produce air modeling information and draft reports prepared by colleague of expert witnesses, which were considered by experts in forming their opinions
Nature of Case: Personal injury arising from emissions from beryllium plant
Electronic Data Involved: Air modeling information and draft reports sent via email
Key Insight: Mandamus relief granted; “run” from database to be narrowed to retrieve only falling-merchandise incidents within geographic and temporal limits set forth by trial court
Nature of Case: Negligence, premises liability
Electronic Data Involved: Run from computer database
Key Insight: Court created its own eight-factor test by adding one more factor to the Zubulake seven-factor test, and determined that cost-shifting was appropriate (responding party 25% and requesting party 75%)
Nature of Case: Sexual harassment
Electronic Data Involved: Email stored on backup tapes
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