Tag:Taxable Costs

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RG Steel Sparrows Point LLC v. Kinder Morgan Bulk Terminals Inc., No. WMN-09-1668, 2016 WL 1377405 (D. Md. Apr. 7, 2016)
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Bagwe v. Sedgwick Claims Mgmt. Servs., Inc., No. 11 CV 2450, 2015 WL 351244 (N.D. Ill. Jan. 27, 2015)
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Document Security Systems, Inc. v. Coupons.com, Inc., 2015 WL 1189661 (W.D.N.Y. Mar. 16, 2015)
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Hanwha Azdel Inc. v. C & D Zodiac, Inc., No. 6:12-CV-00023, 2015 WL 1417058 (Mar. 27, 2015)
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Broadband iTV, Inc. v. Hawaiian Telecom, Inc., NO. 14-00169 ACK-RLP, 2015 WL 9274092 (D. Haw. Nov. 25, 2015)
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Bumpers v. Austal, U.S.A. LLC, No. 08-00155-KD-N, 2015 WL 6870122 (S.D. Ala. Nov. 6, 2015)
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Junious Vital v. Nat?l Oilwell Varco, No. H-12-1357, 2015 WL 40417 (S.D. Tex. Nov. 30, 2015)
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Chung v. El Paso School Dist. #11, No. 14-cv-01520-KLM, 2015 WL 7253334 (D. Colo. Nov. 17, 2015)
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Mobile Telecomm. Techs., LLC v. Samsung Telecomm. Am., LLC, No. 2:13-cv-259-RSP, 2015 WL 5719123 (E.D. Tex. Sept. 28, 2015)
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United States v. GSD Media City, LLC, No. 14-11049, 2015 WL 7744578 (5th Cir. Dec. 1, 2015)

RG Steel Sparrows Point LLC v. Kinder Morgan Bulk Terminals Inc., No. WMN-09-1668, 2016 WL 1377405 (D. Md. Apr. 7, 2016)

Key Insight: Court rejected reasoning that ESI-related costs were recoverable because ?the parties in this case agreed ? to the form of production for ESI? and found that ?the parties? stipulation regarding the production of ESI cannot make ESI-related costs ?necessary? ? unless the costs are copying costs? which the court was unable to discern from Plaintiff?s submission and thus the court declined to tax the ESI-related costs requested; court?s analysis noted 4th Circuit precedent indicating that ?making copies for purposes of cost recovery ? is expressly limited to the cost of converting native files to non-editable formats and copying those files onto discs.?

Electronic Data Involved: Taxable costs

Bagwe v. Sedgwick Claims Mgmt. Servs., Inc., No. 11 CV 2450, 2015 WL 351244 (N.D. Ill. Jan. 27, 2015)

Key Insight: Regarding the taxation of e-Discovery costs, court found that costs ?associated with the conversion of ESI into a readable format, such as scanning or otherwise converting a paper version to an electronic version or converting native files to TIFF files … are compensable under ? 1920(4). But costs related to the ?gathering, preserving, processing, searching, culling, and extracting of ESI simply do not amount to ?making copies? and are thus not taxable.?

Electronic Data Involved: Taxable e-Discovery Cost

Document Security Systems, Inc. v. Coupons.com, Inc., 2015 WL 1189661 (W.D.N.Y. Mar. 16, 2015)

Key Insight: Cost of converting native email and other native files into imaged format for purposes of production was one of many items considered by the court in defendant?s application for costs following grant of summary judgment. Despite plaintiffs argument that the requested expenses should only be approved if they pertain to documents actually produced to Plaintiff, court was satisfied with defendant?s explanation that the costs were ?actually and necessarily incurred in responding to the Plaintiff?s discovery demands? and allowed recovery of defendant?s tiffing costs, even though Defendant could not ?state with certainty whether every document that was converted was actually turned over to Plaintiff as being responsive to a particular demand.?

Nature of Case: Breach of contract

Electronic Data Involved: Imaged native files

Hanwha Azdel Inc. v. C & D Zodiac, Inc., No. 6:12-CV-00023, 2015 WL 1417058 (Mar. 27, 2015)

Key Insight: District Judge adopted in toto recommendations of the Magistrate Judge, including approval of costs related to converting ESI into a reasonable format, where the conversion was requested by an opposing party and ultimately ordered by the court

Electronic Data Involved: ESI

Broadband iTV, Inc. v. Hawaiian Telecom, Inc., NO. 14-00169 ACK-RLP, 2015 WL 9274092 (D. Haw. Nov. 25, 2015)

Key Insight: Costs generically described as ?discovery services? and broken down as ?Active Hosting,? ?Nearline Hosting,? and ?User Access Fee? were denied where the generic descriptions were insufficient to meet the standard for specificity in the Ninth Circuit and where the descriptions failed to indicate that the fees were incurred for making copies

Electronic Data Involved: ESI (Taxable costs under 1920(4))

Bumpers v. Austal, U.S.A. LLC, No. 08-00155-KD-N, 2015 WL 6870122 (S.D. Ala. Nov. 6, 2015)

Key Insight: Where Defendant sought to recover for emails and other ESI compiled by Plaintiff?s expert as ?copying costs? (specifically, Defendant sought ?recovery to produce emails as part of discovery and to obtain already compiled electronic data to support its Daubert motion to exclude Dr. Bradley?s testimony, characterizing them as ?digital copies? necessarily obtained for use in the case?), court reasoned that the costs did not ?relate to a deposition transcript or a true ?digital copy,?? that ?creating an electronic database/compilation or enhanced digital files ?goes well beyond the statutory intent? for taxable digital copies,? and that Defendant had not explained how the data was ?necessarily obtained for use in the case rather than the convenience of counsel? and denied the request

Electronic Data Involved: Taxable costs

Mobile Telecomm. Techs., LLC v. Samsung Telecomm. Am., LLC, No. 2:13-cv-259-RSP, 2015 WL 5719123 (E.D. Tex. Sept. 28, 2015)

Key Insight: Court denied recovery of OCR costs where Defendant failed to show that the step was necessary for making copies, where no party had identified 5th Circuit authority allowing recovery of OCR costs, and where the holding was consistent with the Court?s standing order, which specifically instructed that e-Discovery costs were not allowed, including ?cost for document collection, document processing, and document hosting.?

Electronic Data Involved: Taxable costs

United States v. GSD Media City, LLC, No. 14-11049, 2015 WL 7744578 (5th Cir. Dec. 1, 2015)

Key Insight: Appellate court found no abuse of discretion for award of conversion and character recognition costs where Defendant attested that the costs were necessarily incurred and did not request all costs related to electronic discovery and where the objecting party failed to itemize which costs it claimed were not permissible or provide an explanation of why they were not covered by the statute

Nature of Case: Qui tam; FCA (costs pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1920 (4))

Electronic Data Involved: ESI

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