Knotty Issues of eDiscovery
The facts sound like a typical e-Discovery case, but quickly you feel very sick. Two employees were accused of misappropriation of trade secrets. A Federal lawsuit was filed in Florida. As one can guess, electronically stored information would be key evidence in the lawsuit. Dana Ltd. v. Am. Axle &[…]
Read more1987 was an important year: Baby Jessica was saved from a well; Robert Bork was denied a seat on the Supreme Court; and Teenagers across the world played air guitar to Whitesnake’s immortal “Here I Go Again.” It is also the year the Plaintiffs wanted to restore back-up tapes[…]
Read moreI had the pleasure of discussing social networking with Mike McBride at ILTA 2010. Click here to listen to our discussion on the benefits and e-Discovery concerns of social networking.
Read moreThe parties dedicate nearly all of their briefs discussing and alleging who is to blame for the break-down in the discovery process in this case. Noticeably absent, however, is any meaningful discussion about the specific discovery requests at issue and the sufficiency of any responses or objections provided. Intending no[…]
Read moreR.F.M.A.S., Inc. v. So is the story of a copyright infringement and trade dress suit over jewelry designs. The extensive opinion covers everything from spoliation to discovery requests. A small section of the opinion addresses requesting the metadata of photos. R.F.M.A.S., Inc. v. So, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83247 (S.D.N.Y.[…]
Read moreA HR professional emailed to his home computer the personnel files of 68 employees when he feared layoffs were coming. That is only the beginning of a really ugly fact pattern. The data included past and current employee names, social security numbers, date of births, compensation, and addresses. The former employer[…]
Read moreIn a form of production battle, the producing party claimed they were denied the opportunity to object to the form of production, because the requesting party did not state a form of production. The Court did not need to use Pi to solve this circular argument. Procedural Circles After a motion[…]
Read moreIn a reverse confusion trademark infringement case, the Plaintiff made software named CakeBoss. The Plaintiff had a website with the same name and registered their trademark. Masters Software, Inc. v. Discovery Communs., Inc., 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 79584, at *1-3 (W.D. Wash. July 16, 2010). Tasting the Difference The Discovery[…]
Read moreIn a negligence case where a plaintiff was the victim of a car crash, the Defendant trucking company attempted to introduce out-of-time third-party custodian affidavits and witnesses on the last day of discovery. Boling v. Mohawk Indus., 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 75674 (D.S.C. July 27, 2010). The Court denied the[…]
Read moreLitigants often weld spoliation sanctions for the destruction of evidence like it is a stake to pound in the heart of a vampire. However, the triggering event for the duty to preserve, whether there has been spoliation and the issue of bad faith boils down to one issue: Timing. In[…]
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