Knotty Issues of eDiscovery
December 1, 2006 seems like a lifetime ago when the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure first truly incorporated rules for electronically stored information. It was a time before to iPhones, Netflix, or Marvel movies. Fast-forward to the end of 2018 and attorneys are still having challenges with producing electronically stored[…]
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There are many lawyers who have an unnatural fear of producing associated metadata with ESI productions. I have always viewed this as producing printed paper without ink on the pages. This is one of cases where I scratch my head at the way the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure is[…]
Read moreThe form of production and metadata are center of many motions in compel. One such battle was fought in a case in Alaska regarding insurance coverage. The requesting party sought the production of an affidavit of a deceased insured that was key to determining whether a vehicle was covered or[…]
Read moreParties end up in litigation often because trust has been broken. Distrust can make discovery in civil litigation even more of a legal brawl than anyone enjoys. In Malone v. Kantner Ingredients, the Plaintiffs seriously did not trust the Defendants’ discovery productions. The Plaintiffs alleged the Defendants failed to produce[…]
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 moreA Plaintiff sought the production of metadata of a Word document that was created after the commencement of the lawsuit. The Word document was the Chinese translation of hours the Plaintiff, a nanny and housekeeping, worked for the Defendants. Wang v. Yao, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 70352, 4-6 (E.D.N.Y. May 17,[…]
Read moreAlso Posted on frank! The Nextpoint Blog There are phrases a lawyer never wants to hear a judge say. One is your law firm “acted negligently in failing to comply with its discovery obligations.” Another is your client “acted willfully in failing to comply with its discovery obligations and assist[…]
Read moreWhen it comes to native files with associated metadata, there is no substitute. In a motion battle over a stipulation on the form of production, the Plaintiff stated that ESI should be produced in native file format with associated metadata. In the event ESI needed to be redacted or was[…]
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There are battles that do not make sense. This is one of those cases. In a civil dispute over fraudulent investments, the Plaintiff brought a motion to compel the Defendant to “Bates Label” electronically stored information in native file format, because the local Discovery Practices Handbook required Bates numbering of[…]
Read moreEveryone got burned in this case, including the Court, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and especially Rule 1. Brinckerhoff v. Town of Paradise, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 126895 (E.D. Cal. Nov. 18, 2010). On a positive note, the Court was innovative enough to cited Google Maps in a footnote[…]
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