Bow Tie Law

What Litigation Hold? Failing to Image Hard Drives and Other Discovery Mistakes

Plunk v. Vill. of Elwood, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42952 (N.D. Ill. May 20, 2009) is a civil rights case with a summer time trial date against a local government, village officials and the police department.  The Plaintiffs took the Defendants to task for failing to image six hard drives[…]

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Is ONE Keyword Adequate for a Search?

Magistrate Judge Facciola’s Asarco, Inc. v. United States EPA, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 37182 (D.D.C. Apr. 28, 2009) dealt with a very brief issue: Was one keyword adequate for the search of electronically stored information?  Short answer: No In Asarco, the Plaintiff opposed a summary judgment motion and sought leave[…]

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Who Delivers a Litigation Hold Notice to the Post Office?

Procedural Overview A mail clerk sued the United States Post Office and settled her lawsuit 1999.  The Plaintiff sued the Post Office again, claiming the Defendants engaged in a campaign of harassment. The Plaintiff brought a second lawsuit for violations of Title VII and breach of contract. Phillips v. Potter,[…]

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Producing Social Networking Profiles: What Court has Jurisdiction?

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.

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

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[…]

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

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[…]

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