Taxation of Costs – Bow Tie Law

Predictive Coding Costs for Producing Party…in an Unpublished Opinion

April 9, 2018 Josh Gilliland Predictive Coding, Taxation of Costs

Unpublished opinions cannot be cited in any motion, but can be very illuminating on how state courts are handling ediscovery issues. In a case where plaintiffs sued a retailer for alleged violations of requesting and recording personal identification information during sales, the defendants were able to recover predictive coding costs[…]

There are no Magic Words for Taxation of Processing Costs, but there is the Law

May 19, 2015 Josh Gilliland Processing, Taxation of Costs

Taxation of cost cases can be dull. However, when the Judge shoots down an argument with a YouTube video in the opinion, you know it’s a party. The prevailing party in a trademark infringement case between companies that make portable electronic fitness tracking devices sought $88,888.86 in costs and the[…]

Stating Reality: Imaging a Hard Drive Makes a Copy

March 19, 2015 Josh Gilliland Imaging Hard Drives, Taxation of Costs

Taxation of cost cases do not generally have happy endings for recovering eDiscovery costs. The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a very important opinion on March 17, 2015 well grounded in the reality of civil litigation and the law where eDiscovery costs were recovered. It[…]

WHOA! A Prevailing Party Recovered $57,873.61 in eDiscovery Costs!

February 19, 2015 Josh Gilliland eDiscovery, Processing, Taxable Costs, Taxation of Costs

My God, is it true? Did a Prevailing Party recover virtually all of its eDiscovery costs? The answer is yes, thanks to a case in Colorado. United States District Judge Christine M. Arguello opened her order denying the Plaintiff’s motion to review the clerk’s taxation of costs with the following: Because[…]

What Did We Learn About eDiscovery in 2014?

December 19, 2014 Josh Gilliland eDiscovery, Form of Production, Predictive Coding, Proportionality, Taxation of Costs

As 2014 draws to a close, it is time to reflect on the cases from this year in eDiscovery. One of the biggest trends I took away from caselaw in 2014, is that more Judges have a greater understanding of eDiscovery, resulting in practical opinions. Here are the practice areas[…]

Did a Judge Say Scanning of a Native File and OCR?

November 3, 2014 Josh Gilliland e-Discovery, eDiscovery, Taxation of Costs

Taxation of cost cases can get funky. One such example is where a party sought costs for discovery to be produced in “OCR” format. The Court went on to state: “The scanning and conversion of native files to the agreed-upon format for production of ESI constitutes ‘making copies of materials’[…]

How Apple Successfully Recovered eDiscovery Production Costs

September 25, 2014 Josh Gilliland e-Discovery, eDiscovery, Taxable Costs, Taxation of Costs

Taxation of cost cases involving eDiscovery often end with the prevailing party not recovering any costs. However, in the true spirit of “think different,” Apple was able to recover $238,102.66 in costs for “the amounts associated with electronic preparation and duplication, not the intellectual effort involved in the production, such[…]

Always Document Services to Explain eDiscovery Services for Taxation of Costs

May 12, 2014 Josh Gilliland Processing, Taxation of Costs

A prevailing party sought $61,548.65 in costs. They got $7,106.65. Kwan Software Eng’G v. Foray Techs., 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 63933, 10-19 (N.D. Cal. May 8, 2014). United States District Judge Susan Illston is very good at eDiscovery disputes. This case highlights the importance of not just knowing how to conduct[…]

Hosting ESI is Not “Making Copies” for Cost Recovery

January 17, 2014 Josh Gilliland e-Discovery, Taxable Costs, Taxation of Costs

Judge Young B Kim posed an interesting question for a party seeking costs for the hosting of ESI to review: Applying these principles [Race Tires, Rawal, & Johnson] to the specific question of online hosting costs, this court finds that these costs may be recoverable only if hosting amounted to “copying”[…]

You Might Want a Glass of Wine: No Costs for Native File Processing

May 29, 2013 Josh Gilliland e-Discovery, Request for Production, Taxation of Costs

It is sad when good arguments fail. Taxation of cost cases frequently deny processing costs of native files, unless there is conversion to a static image. Conversion of native files to static images can significantly increase processing costs, opposed to keeping native files in their original format. It is fitting[…]