Bow Tie Law

Producing Social Networking Profiles: What Court has Jurisdiction?

May 12, 2009 Josh Gilliland Deposition, e-Discovery, Electronically Stored Information, Email, ESI, Facebook, Social Networking

A Facebook user in Massachusetts was facing criminal charges in Massachusetts for criminal harassment and threats to commit a crime from Facebook messages. Skerry, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 38804, 1-2 (D. Cal. 2009). The Petitioner sought the emergency deposition of Facebook’s “recorder keeper” because of the concern Facebook periodically purged its information system. Skerry, 2-4.

Measure for Measure: Sexting, District Attorneys and Restraining Orders

May 11, 2009 Josh Gilliland ethics, Text Messages

Parenting has never been easy. Since cell phones starting having cameras, parents have had to talk to their teenage children about the dangers of “sexting.” For those who have never heard of this practice, it is taking photos of a sexual nature and sending them via text message. There is[…]

Name that Form of Production: Converting ESI to TIFF without Metadata is Not a Reasonably Useable Form

May 7, 2009 Josh Gilliland Discovery, Document Review, e-Discovery, Electronically Stored Information, Email, ESI, ethics, Form of Production, Metadata, Native File, TIFF

Bray & Gillespie Mgmt. LLC v. Lexington Ins. Co., 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21250 (M.D. Fla. Mar. 4, 2009) is a lengthy opinion covering Rule 34 requests, form of production issues concerning metadata, reasonably useable form of production, ethical responsibilities for candor to the Court and Opposing Parties and sanctions. […]

Know Your Client’s ESI: You Really Don’t Want a Judge Saying, “This is Unacceptable”

May 1, 2009 Josh Gilliland Discovery, Duty of Care, e-Discovery, Electronically Stored Information, Email, ESI, Litigation Hold, Request for Production

This may surprise a few people: There is another magistrate judge besides Judge Waxse writing ESI opinions in Kansas. Magistrate Judge Donald Bostwick issued an order granting in part and denying in part a motion to compel ESI in Patterson v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS[…]

Status Messages and Client Confidences

April 29, 2009 Josh Gilliland Attorney Client Privilege, Blogging, Discovery, Duty of Care, e-Discovery, ethics, Facebook, Work Product Doctrine

Web 2.0 marketing is a highly effective way for lawyers to promote their services to prospective clients. Web 2.0 marketing is leveraging collaborative programs hosted over the Internet, such as social networking sites or Wikis, to provide content highlighting an attorney’s services. This form of marketing could also result in[…]

Local Political Drama: Text Messages, Employee Hard Drives and Wrongful Termination

April 27, 2009 Josh Gilliland e-Discovery, Electronically Stored Information, Email, ESI, Text Messages

Williams v. City of Franklin, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 33200 (M.D. Tenn. Apr. 16, 2009) is an ESI free for all. The case is a local political drama that sounds like a Hollywood production. There are threatening text messages from an alderman and then rummaging through an employee’s laptops for[…]

Is the Circus in Town? Justifying a Change of Venue from Online Publicity

April 23, 2009 Josh Gilliland Change of Venue, Jury Disqualification, Jury Selection

United States v. McRae, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 32411 (W.D. Tenn. Apr. 15, 2009) is a 1983 action against a police office for violating a prisoner’s rights. The incident was captured on video and had been broadcast on the news, with denouncements and outcry from politicians, public figures, the Plaintiffs[…]

Prescription for Spoliation: A Short Legal Review

April 22, 2009 Josh Gilliland Discovery, e-Discovery, Email, Spoliation

Two drug companies in litigation ended up in a legal brawl over spoliation of backup tapes. The Defendants claimed the Plaintiffs either intentionally or recklessly destroyed back up tapes with key email messages that tended to show the Plaintiffs’ drug “escitalopram” did not produce “unexpected results” and therefore was “obvious.”[…]

A Note on Judicial Notice of Blogs and Admissibility of Electronically Stored Information

April 20, 2009 Josh Gilliland Admissibility, Anti-SLAPP, Blogging, e-Discovery, Forum Selection, Hearsay, Judicial Notice

In a trade secret case, the Defendants attempted to strike the Plaintiffs’ complaint pursuant to the California Anti-SLAPP statute. The Defendants failed to make a prima facie showing that the complaint arose from protected activity. World Fin. Group v. Hbw Ins. & Fin. Servs., 2009 Cal. App. LEXIS 553 (Cal.[…]

When Contract Law Collides with Social Networking & Online Movie Rentals

April 18, 2009 Josh Gilliland Choice of Law, Contract Law, Discovery, e-Discovery, Facebook, Forum Selection, Illusory Contract, Online Movie Rental, Social Networking

Every now and then, there comes a case that gives me law school flashbacks. Professor Rohwer, my old Contracts professor, this one’s for you. Harris v. Blockbuster, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 31531 (N.D. Tex. Apr. 15, 2009) involves Blockbuster allegedly violating the Video Privacy Protection Act. Blockbuster Online (an online[…]