Bow Tie Law

Discovery Games in Gaming Litigation

Discovery games were taking place in a gaming case in Mississippi.  The Plaintiffs brought a motion to strike and a motion for sanctions for discovery misconduct in responding to requests for electronically stored information.  Maggette v. BL Dev. Corp., 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 116789 (N.D. Miss. Nov. 24, 2009).  The[…]

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BlackBerry Boo-Boos: How to Get the Judge to Text You Adverse Inference Instructions

Southeastern Mechanical Services, Inc., v Brody, et al., is the story of how wiping the data off your BlackBerry can result with the Court having you drawn and quartered.  Not with horses, but with adverse inference instructions. In a trade secret case where Individual Defendants left the Plaintiff’s company and[…]

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Proving Up Destroyed ESI is Favorable to Your Position is Hard to Do

In an ADA employment case, the Plaintiff sought spoliation sanctions and an adverse inference instruction for the destruction of electronically stored information (ESI). Scalera v. Electrograph Sys., 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 91572 (E.D.N.Y. Sept. 29, 2009). The Plaintiff lost.             The Discovery Requests The Plaintiff sought the[…]

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A Three Page Order Hitting De-Duplication & Litigation Holds

From the plains of Kansas comes another short and powerful order by Magistrate Judge David Waxse.  On Constitution Day, Judge Waxse was very busy in White v. Graceland College Ctr. for Prof’l Dev. & Lifelong Learning, Inc., 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 85849 (D. Kan. Sept. 18, 2009).  For an earlier[…]

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A Picture is worth a Thousand Words, but Sanctions are Priceless

The Defendants in Green v. McClendon, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 71860 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 13, 2009) attempted to purchase a $4.2 million painting.  As the Defendants’ marriage ended in divorce, the Defendants (who never took physical ownership) did not complete their payments.  The Plaintiff sought sanctions against both the Defendant and[…]

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Lions, Tigers & Bears: Failing to Preserve ESI, Search Terms and Forensically Imaging Computers

In Treppel v. Biovail Corp., 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25867 (S.D.N.Y. 2008) the Plaintiff brought an action alleging a smear campaign against him. The Defendants in turn claimed the Plaintiff defamed their CEO and caused their stock to drop in value.   No matter what the truth is, these parties are[…]

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Spoliation! A New Drama at the District Courthouse about a Litigation Hold and Missing Electronically Stored Information

The stage is set: There is a triggering event for a lawsuit, a litigation hold is enacted and evidence is preserved.  A drama played out not according to the above script with a law firm and client almost ending up on the hook for a botched litigation hold.  In Pinstripe, Inc. v. Manpower, Inc., the[…]

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