Bow Tie Law

The Return of Covad Communications: Forensic Imaging of Databases & Email Servers

Magistrate Judge Facciola’s “Christmas Eve” opinion now has a sequel: Covad Communs. Co. v. Revonet, Inc., 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47841 (D.D.C. May 27, 2009).  This opinion is very detailed covering issues of forensic examinations, email servers and commentary on retention policies.  I encourage lawyers to look at this opinion. […]

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The Plumbing of a Motion to Compel

In a product defect case about brass plumbing fittings, the Defendants fought a motion to compel electronically stored information relevant to class certification, because of undue burden and cost.  They lost…in large part. In re Zurn Pex Plumbing Prods. Liab. Litig., 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47636, 1 (D. Minn. June[…]

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Follow the Court Order: If You are Ordered to Produce Searchable PDF’s, Don’t Produce TIFFs without Searchable Text

Gamesmanship is the harbinger of bad lawyer reputations.  Not obeying Court orders can be the death warrant on how the judge will view you every time you appear in her courtroom.  One can imagine how things will go for a party when this is the opening line of an opinion:[…]

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Reckless Abandon: Lost Hard Drives and Sanctions

In complex commercial litigation today, virtually all discovery involves electronic discovery to some extent. It also is well known that absent affirmative steps to preserve it, at least some electronically stored information (“ESI”) is likely to be lost during the course of litigation through routine business practices or otherwise. These[…]

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What Litigation Hold? Failing to Image Hard Drives and Other Discovery Mistakes

Plunk v. Vill. of Elwood, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42952 (N.D. Ill. May 20, 2009) is a civil rights case with a summer time trial date against a local government, village officials and the police department.  The Plaintiffs took the Defendants to task for failing to image six hard drives[…]

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