Knotty Issues of eDiscovery
June 29, 2010 marks the first anniversary of the California Electronic Discovery Act. It is unlikely there are any decorations at state courthouses celebrating the date. There are many California judges, attorneys and bar associations preparing educational events on e-Discovery. However, there are few cases directly addressing electronically stored information[…]
Read moreEvery now and then, rules with teeth will leave a love bite. This is one of those cases. The Plaintiffs identified 31 documents in their initial disclosures. However, none of these were produced because of a claimed computer crash. Pinkney v. Am. Med. Response, Inc., 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 56465,[…]
Read moreYou should never betray the family…and one such betrayal resulted in trademark litigation over Mafia Wars. Now You are Part of the Family For those not familiar with Mafia Wars (or you spend a lot of time clicking “Ignore”), it is a game on social networking sites such as Facebook. […]
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Judges loath ordering the forensic imaging of personal computers. Here is a case where that was not a problem for the Court. In Genworth Fin. Wealth Mgmt. v. McMullan, the Plaintiffs brought a motion to compel the Defendants to produce their computers for forensic imaging, plus a preservation order and[…]
Read moreParties should be very careful when Courts start referring to a party’s views on electronically stored information as “dismissive.” More importantly, if a party boasts that they use a litigation support system on their website, don’t be surprised if the Court discusses that fact with the URL in an opinion. A Discovery Brawl In[…]
Read moreIn a products liability case, the Plaintiffs claimed they could not tell if the Defendants produced electronically stored information in the form it was ordinarily maintained. In re Bisphenol a Polycarbonate Plastic Prods. Liab. Litig., 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 52444 (W.D. Mo. May 26, 2010). Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Rule 34(b)(2)(E) states[…]
Read moreGuidance Software hosted another amazing Computer and Enterprise Investigations Conference (CEIC). This was my fifth CEIC and I believe the best I have attended. My personal favorite conferences are CEIC and the Paraben Forensic Innovation Conferencec. For those interested in the interaction between data collection to e-Discovery, both are must[…]
Read moreOne thing never goes out of fashion in e-Discovery: The Meet & Confer over search terms. In Ross v. Abercrombie & Fitch Co., the Plaintiff brought a motion to compel missing electronically stored information. Ross v. Abercrombie & Fitch Co., 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47620 (S.D. Ohio May 14, 2010). […]
Read moreA Defendant in Georgia was convicted of multiple armed bank robberies and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The Defendant was sentenced to 2,005 months in prison for his crimes. On appeal, the Defendant claimed the District Court abused its discretion in admitting the “bad character evidence” of[…]
Read moreThe personal computer is an eternal icon of the 1980s. However, few might suspect there is litigation currently pending dating back to the era of Reagan, Yuppies and Apple’s 1984 Orwellian Super Bowl commercial. [Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/OYecfV3ubP8&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0] Floppy Disks: e-Discovery Echoes Phillip M. Adams & Assocs. v. V., is the continuing story of[…]
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