AbbVie Inc. v. Boehringer Ingelheim International GMBH (D. Del., 2018)
Key Insight: primarily/predominantly legal
Nature of Case: Patent Dispute
Electronic Data Involved: PowerPoint Slide Presentation
Keywords: in-house counsel
Bradley v. County of San Joaquin (No. 17-cv-02313 (E.D. Cal. July 13, 2018), 2018)
Key Insight: whether plaintiffs had met their burden to show that adequate meet and confer discussions took place prior to filing their motion to compel.
Nature of Case: 1983 Civil Rights Act claim
Electronic Data Involved: unspecified ESI
Keywords: “The burden of ensuring that proper meet and confer discussions take place is on the moving party”, plaintiffs did not make the necessary efforts to meet and confer”, “Plaintiffs were plainly deficient in their efforts”
Identified Local Court Rule(s): E.D. Cal. R. 251(b)
Regents of University of California v. Affymetrix (Southern District of California, District Court, 2018)
Key Insight: The common interest exception to AC privilege allowing the presence of a third party doesn’t apply when the third party is not represented by counsel
Nature of Case: patent infringement
Electronic Data Involved: archived email
Keywords: common interest doctrine, privilege, third party, common legal strategy, unrepresented party
Bell v. Pension Committee of Ath Holding Co., LLC, No. 1-15-cv-02062-TWP-MPB (S.D. Ind. June 14, 2018)
Key Insight: discoverability of Facebook messages
Nature of Case: Breach of fiduciary duty, ERISA
Electronic Data Involved: Facebook private messages, Facebook post
Keywords: 37(a), Facebook, private messaging, relevance, work product doctrine, common interest privilege
Singer Oil Co., LLC v. Newfield Exploration Mid-Continent, Inc. (No. CIV-16-768-M (W.D. Okla. June 5, 2018), 2018)
Key Insight: sanctions for failure to produce emails between plaintiff’s counsel and third party in response to discovery requests
Nature of Case: private nuisance, breach of contract
Electronic Data Involved: e-email
Keywords: “obligation to disclose communications between its attorney and third parties”, “proposed sanction is an extremely harsh sanction”, “frequently corresponded by e-mail with numerous third parties”, “privilege log”
Mitchell v. Capitol Records, LLC, No. 3:15-CV-00174-JHM (W.D. Ky. Apr. 30, 2018).
Key Insight: Boilerplate objections did not allow court to determine and defendants ordered to produce all documents withheld on basis of boilerplate objections.
Nature of Case: Copyright infringement
Electronic Data Involved: Financial Records, Responses to Questions
Keywords: boilerplate objections
DNC Parks & Resorts at Yosemite, Inc. v. United States (Fed. Cl. , 2018)
Key Insight: whether the US could discover communications and documents regarding a non-testifying expert’s valuation of IP in question
Nature of Case: intellectual property (IP)
Electronic Data Involved: e-mail, documents
Keywords: non-testifying expert
Identified Local Court Rule(s): RCFC 26(c); RCFC 45(d)(3)
West Bend Mutual Insurance Company v. Zurich American Insurance Company, No. 1:17-cv-02598 (N.D. Ill. Apr. 11, 2018)
Key Insight: Attorney client privilege is not waived as an “at-issue” matter simply by filing a counterclaim
Nature of Case: Worker’s Compensation
Electronic Data Involved: All communications with monitoring counsel
Keywords: Privilege, at-issue waiver
Michael E. Davis, et al. v. Electronic Arts, Inc., No. 10-cv-03328-RS (N.D. Cal. April 3, 2018)
Key Insight: Plaintiffs said no responsive documents existed; deposition; Court awarded $25,000 of $45,000 in attorneys fees due to billing problems by defendant
Nature of Case: Statutory and Common Law Publicity Rights
Electronic Data Involved: E-Mail
Keywords: Sanctions; Timely Response; Privilege Log
Terry v. Register Tapes Unlimited (E.D. Cal., 2018)
Key Insight: Defendant’s production was held to be inadequate due to only producing 1k out of tens of thousands, and not providing a signed verification that the production was full and complete.
Nature of Case: Contract
Electronic Data Involved: financial records, documents
Keywords: inadequate production, signed verification, trade secrets