Mike McBride on Social Networking
I 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 moreCategory: ESI
A Discovery Jewel: Keeping Requests in Focus
R.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 moreCircular Form of Production Objections
In 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 moreIt Takes the Cake: e-Discovery & Social Networking in Trademark Litigation
In 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 moreIt’s All About Timing: Good Faith and the Duty to Preserve
Litigants 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[…]
Read moreHow “Ridiculous” Productions Can Waive the Attorney-Client Privilege
The ridiculously high number of irrelevant materials and the large volume of privileged communications produced demonstrate a lack of reasonableness. Robert C. Chambers, United States District Court Judge Preparing electronic discovery takes careful review and following Judge Grimm’s Victor Stanley checklist. That did not happen in this case. The Plaintiffs[…]
Read moreFishing Expeditions in Cell Phone & Hard Drive Collection
In a wrongful death case, the Plaintiffs sought “any and all” computer hard drives and cell phones from the Defendant within 24 hours of the incident in the lawsuit to the “present.” Holland v. Barfield, 35 So. 3d 953 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 5th Dist. 2010). A Grand Fishing Expedition[…]
Read moreA Search Term Turkey
In a Fair Labor Standards Case against Butterball, the Plaintiffs claimed the Defendants’ ESI production was incomplete. The Defendants in turn claimed that the “burden” of producing the discovery was burdensome, justifying cost shifting. Helmert, et al., v. Butterball, LLC, 2010 U.S. Dist. Lexis 60777 (May 27, 2010). While that[…]
Read moreA Judicial Love Bite: Initial Disclosures Mean Initial Disclosures
Every now and then, rules with teeth will leave a love bite. This is one of those cases. The Plaintiffs identified 31 documents in their initial disclosures. However, none of these were produced because of a claimed computer crash. Pinkney v. Am. Med. Response, Inc., 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 56465,[…]
Read moreFloppy Disk Wars: Form of Production & Computer Battles from the 1980s
The personal computer is an eternal icon of the 1980s. However, few might suspect there is litigation currently pending dating back to the era of Reagan, Yuppies and Apple’s 1984 Orwellian Super Bowl commercial. [Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/OYecfV3ubP8&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0] Floppy Disks: e-Discovery Echoes Phillip M. Adams & Assocs. v. V., is the continuing story of[…]
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