Form of Production – Page 6

Swimming in the Deep End: Treading Water in e-Discovery Cases

July 14, 2009 Josh Gilliland Discovery, e-Discovery, Electronically Stored Information, ESI, Form of Production, Metadata, OCR, Request for Production

This motion centers on electronic discovery. The proper handling of electronic discovery is a new and developing area of law practice. The Federal Rules first addressed electronic discovery in 2006 and the Local Rules of this court have yet to provide any guidance on electronic discovery. Therefore, the court appreciates[…]

Motion to Compel Camera Phone Photo

June 19, 2009 Josh Gilliland Discovery, e-Discovery, Electronically Stored Information, Email, ESI, Form of Production, Request for Production

Just as the Def Leppard Song Goes: All I got is a photograph — and it is not enough. (from the classic Photograph) The Defendants requested a photo from a Plaintiff that was taken on his cell phone. The Plaintiffs in turn produced the photo. There was one little problem[…]

Follow the Court Order: If You are Ordered to Produce Searchable PDF’s, Don’t Produce TIFFs without Searchable Text

June 12, 2009 Josh Gilliland Deposition, Discovery, e-Discovery, Electronically Stored Information, ESI, Form of Production, Motion to Compel, Request for Production, TIFF

Gamesmanship is the harbinger of bad lawyer reputations. Not obeying Court orders can be the death warrant on how the judge will view you every time you appear in her courtroom. One can imagine how things will go for a party when this is the opening line of an opinion:[…]

Procrastination and Objecting to the Form of Production Don’t Mix

May 22, 2009 Josh Gilliland Discovery, e-Discovery, Electronically Stored Information, ESI, Form of Production, Metadata, Motion to Compel, Request for Production, TIFF

It is beyond cavil that this entire problem could have been avoided had there been an explicit agreement between the parties as to production, but as that ship has sailed, it is without question unduly burdensome to a party months after production to require that party to reconstitute their entire[…]

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. […]

Check Please: Challenging a PDF Form of Production

April 15, 2009 Josh Gilliland Discovery, e-Discovery, Form of Production, Request for Production

Rahman v. Smith & Wollensky Rest. Group, Inc., is an employment discrimination case where the Defendants produced guest checks from a database in PDF format on CD-ROM, in three-year batches, with a unique index number identifying each check. Rahman v. Smith & Wollensky Rest. Group, Inc., 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS[…]

Court Orders OCR of Scanned Paper Documents, or Don’t Go to Court Claiming OCR will Cost $200,000

February 24, 2009 Josh Gilliland Discovery, Document Review, Form of Production, OCR, Request for Production, TIFF

“OCR, while perhaps not absolutely necessary to litigation, is a tool that greatly decreases the time and effort counsel must invest in searching and examining documents. Presumably, each party would perform the OCR process in a cost-effective manner to minimize their costs. Requiring the parties to incur this cost, when[…]

Whose Search Term is it Anyway?

February 23, 2009 Josh Gilliland Discovery, Document Review, Form of Production, Motion to Compel, Request for Production, Search Terms, Uncategorized

In Spieker v. Cherokee, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88103 (D. Kan. Oct. 30, 2008), the parties became entangled in a dispute over who created search terms for a set of specific discovery requests. The Plaintiff had served the Defendant with specifically defined Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Rule 34 requests[…]

Production of Metadata and the Importance of the Meet & Confer Process

February 21, 2009 Josh Gilliland Discovery, Document Review, e-Discovery, Form of Production, Metadata, Motion to Compel, Native File, Request for Production, Uncategorized

This lawsuit demonstrates why it is so important that parties frilly discuss their ESI early in the evolution of a case. Had that been done, the Defendants might not have opposed the Plaintiffs’ requests for certain metadata. Moreover, the parties might have been able to work out many, if not[…]

Production of Text Messages Protocol

February 17, 2009 Josh Gilliland Discovery, Document Review, Form of Production, Reasonable Expectation of Privacy, Text Messages, Uncategorized

The sensitivity courts are showing to text messages and public employees’ reasonable expectation of privacy has been very impressive. This sensitivity is evident in cases such as Quon v. Arch Wireless Operating Co., Inc., which found that a police officer had a reasonable expectation of privacy in his messages, due[…]