Knotty Issues of eDiscovery
The Defendants in a medical malpractice case sought discovery from the Plaintiffs related to billing and care records from the Plaintiffs. The problem: the unavailable records were at hospitals in the United Arab Emirates. Al-Ameri v. Johns Hopkins Hosp. (D.Md. May 26, 2016, No. GLR-15-1163) 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68980,[…]
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Lawyers are eagerly awaiting Courts to start their engines applying the new Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Rule 37(e) for sanctions against a party that failed to preserve ESI. However, the case of Bruner v. Am. Honda Motor Co, is a healthy reminder that Courts will keep ordering parties to enact litigation holds.[…]
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Responding to requests for production requires the producing party to have a plan for document review. What defines that an email message is responsive? What are the privileges in the case? What information needs to be redacted for production? How are privileges asserted in a privilege log? Lawyers who do[…]
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Parties objecting to requests for production cannot simply state the words not “relevant or proportional to the needs of the case,” in the hopes a Judge will sing along like its Purple Rain. Proportionality has to be proven with facts, and lawyers who fail to do so will know what[…]
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We have a new case applying Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Rule 37(e): Living Color Enterprises v New Era Aquaculture. My thanks to attorney Chris Dix from the law firm of Smith, Hulsey, & Busey for sending me this case. Chis joined me for a podcast to discuss the case,[…]
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A Plaintiff sought from the Defendant the Plaintiff’s entire work email inbox from 2001 to present “in unrestricted and searchable ‘PST’ file format.” Odeh v. City of Baton Rouge E. Baton Rouge (M.D.La. Mar. 29, 2016, No. 14-793-JJB-RLB) 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 41079, at *7-8. In addition to the fact[…]
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California has set the gold standard for eDiscovery competency with Formal Opinion 2015-193. I have a new CLE presentation on the new opinion that discusses how California attorneys can meet their duty of competency to their clients. Check out my podcast discussing these issues and more.
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There is good news on the new Amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure: Magistrate Judges are applying proportionality analysis like it is a shiny new toy. Magistrate Judge Tom Baker in Indiana weighed in on expedited discovery in advance of a preliminary injunction hearing. Southeast Fin. Credit Union[…]
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I had the privilege of attending the 5th Annual ASU Arkfeld eDiscovery and Digital Evidence Conference. Michael Arkfeld, Robert Singleton, Joy Allen Woller, and the planning committee did an excellent job organizing an excellent event. The conference topics covered everything from big data analysis to the new Amendments to the[…]
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Magistrate Judge Howard Lloyd engaged in very granular analysis of discovery requests for email messages in a wage and hour case. This type or analysis is a mainstay in many motions over discovery requests, but likely will be more common as Federal Courts conduct proportionality analysis. The Court first summarized[…]
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