Meet & Confer – Page 2

Discussing the Form of Production: Always Good at a Meet and Confer

April 25, 2011 Josh Gilliland Discovery, e-Discovery, Form of Production, Meet & Confer

The Defendant in Quality Inv. Props. Santa Clara, LLC v. Serrano Elec., Inc., brought a motion to compel the Plaintiff to “organize, index and label” their production of electronically stored information. Quality Inv. Props. Santa Clara, LLC v. Serrano Elec., Inc., 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 41006, 1-2 (N.D. Cal. Apr.[…]

Bates Numbering ESI & Other Dates with a Recycle Bin

March 28, 2011 Josh Gilliland e-Discovery, Electronically Stored Information, ESI, Form of Production, Meet & Confer, Metadata, Native File, Reasonably Useable Form, Request for Production, TIFF

There are battles that do not make sense. This is one of those cases. In a civil dispute over fraudulent investments, the Plaintiff brought a motion to compel the Defendant to “Bates Label” electronically stored information in native file format, because the local Discovery Practices Handbook required Bates numbering of[…]

Putting 4 Terabytes of Discovery on Ice

January 18, 2011 Josh Gilliland Electronically Stored Information, ESI, Meet & Confer, Search Terms

Sometimes, it takes a Court order to cool the fiery passions of litigation. In a RICO action in the packaged ice industry, the Defendant sought to chill the cost of searching 4 Terabytes of data. McNulty v. Reddy Ice Holdings, Inc., 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3173, 6-7 ( E.D. Mich.[…]

Burning the Cost of Production & Review

December 8, 2010 Josh Gilliland Discovery, e-Discovery, Email, Meet & Confer, Metadata

Everyone got burned in this case, including the Court, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and especially Rule 1. Brinckerhoff v. Town of Paradise, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 126895 (E.D. Cal. Nov. 18, 2010). On a positive note, the Court was innovative enough to cited Google Maps in a footnote[…]

The Helping Hand of Cooperation over Search Terms

October 29, 2010 Josh Gilliland e-Discovery, Electronically Stored Information, Meet & Confer, Search Terms

The Defendants in Romero v. Allstate Ins. Co., opposed a motion to compel to confer with the Plaintiffs over search terms. Romero is an employment class action against Allstate involving alleged coercion to convert employees into independent contractors without their original benefits. Romero v. Allstate Ins. Co., 2010 U.S. Dist.[…]

A Search Term Turkey

July 20, 2010 Josh Gilliland Civil Procedure, Electronically Stored Information, ESI, Litigation Hold, Meet & Confer, Motion to Compel

In a Fair Labor Standards Case against Butterball, the Plaintiffs claimed the Defendants’ ESI production was incomplete. The Defendants in turn claimed that the “burden” of producing the discovery was burdensome, justifying cost shifting. Helmert, et al., v. Butterball, LLC, 2010 U.S. Dist. Lexis 60777 (May 27, 2010). While that[…]

I Have this Favor to Ask of You: Don’t Betray the Family with Third-Party Discovery

June 18, 2010 Josh Gilliland Civil Procedure, e-Discovery, Electronically Stored Information, Facebook, Meet & Confer, MySpace

You 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. […]

Ensuring Searchable Production Formats (Or Don’t Tick off the Judge)

June 2, 2010 Josh Gilliland Civil Procedure, e-Discovery, Electronically Stored Information, Meet & Confer, Metadata, Native File

Parties 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[…]

Search Term Fashionista: Meet & Confers Never Go Out of Style

May 24, 2010 Josh Gilliland Civil Procedure, e-Discovery, Electronically Stored Information, Meet & Confer

One 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). […]

Don’t Bank on this Strategy to Compel Electronically Stored Information

August 27, 2009 Josh Gilliland Discovery, e-Discovery, Electronically Stored Information, ESI, Meet & Confer, Motion to Compel

The Court finds the parties could have avoided the expenses of this Motion by conferring appropriately early in the case about ESI. United States Magistrate Judge Michael R. Merz, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. LaSalle Bank Nat’l Ass’n, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 70514 (S.D. Ohio July 24, 2009). Banks really[…]