Knotty Issues of eDiscovery
Judge William Orrick summed up a basic truth of eDiscovery: In the age of electronically-stored information (“ESI”), production of all relevant, not privileged and reasonably accessible documents in a company’s custody and control is easier said than done. Banas v. Volcano Corp., 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 144139, at *5 (N.D. Cal. Oct.[…]
Read moreIn a case where the Court called the Defendants’ disclosures troubling, the Plaintiffs sought sanctions for the failure to back-up hard drives or issue a litigation hold. There was one big problem with the Plaintiffs’ argument: they did not prove that the Defendant had a duty to preserve the email when[…]
Read moreI want to thank all of my readers who have enjoyed my blog over the years. I hope you enjoy my 400th post on eDiscovery. I have seen amazing things in my 12 years as an attorney. I have traveled across all of North America; I have met amazing lawyers;[…]
Read moreDiapers. Perhaps the most effective tool for encouraging family planning. Now a messy diaper shipment case delivers a message on the importance of issuing a litigation hold. A Defendant brought a sanctions motion against a Plaintiff for their alleged failure to preserve evidence in a case over $3 million worth[…]
Read moreA Plaintiff brought a motion for terminating sanctions pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(b), based on the Defendant’s untimely production of ESI as non-searchable TIFFs without metadata. The Court denied the default sanction, but instead ordered the production in searchable format with metadata. Kwan Software Eng’g, Inc. v. Foray[…]
Read moreI have coached a high school mock trial team for the last four years. I am pleased to say we have 28 students on the team. We even have a student courtroom artist who practices at each meeting by sketching his classmates as they discuss case theory, arguments or rehearse[…]
Read morePuerto Rico once again has issued a thought provoking eDiscovery opinion. It’s about time we hold a conference there. The Court found the Plaintiff had offered sufficient evidence that the Defendant had a duty to preserve the personal email accounts of its former officers. The Court explained the email accounts[…]
Read moreWestdale Recap Props. v. Np/I&G Wakefield Commons is a serious case of “no, that’s not right.” It concludes with a Court telling a requesting party that requested ESI as native files that it had not “demonstrated an adequate need to have all the ESI produced in native format.” So much[…]
Read moreSome cases begin with such a “wow” introduction they have to be seen to be believed: To put it lightly, there has been a severe shortcoming by Defendants in this action during the discovery process. Not only have Defendants’ resisted providing required information in initial disclosures and resisted previous discovery[…]
Read moreA requesting party has a very difficult problem when a producing party has made a very small production that the requesting party believes is deficient. This situation quickly turns into the requesting party trying to prove a negative to the Court that a production is inadequate, without any evidence to[…]
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