Knotty Issues of eDiscovery
Here are two tips on social media discovery: Tip One: Get an expert who knows how to collect the electronically stored information on social media. Tip Two: Downloading a Facebook profile, printing it, and conducting document review for redactions is not the best way to produce social media. The Defendants[…]
Read moreRequesting social media relevant to a lawsuit should be done as standard operating procedure now. However, some attorney have a difficult time with narrowing their requests beyond, “Produce your Facebook profile.” Such fishing expeditions are summarily denied. See, Tompkins v. Detroit Metro. Airport, 278 F.R.D. 387 ( E.D. Mich. 2012),[…]
Read moreWe live in a world where people walk around with phones that have more computing power than the Lunar Lander. A recent case highlighted the importance of how data on these devices can enter a lawsuit. In US v Davis, Instagram photos were used to help demonstrate a conspiracy between the[…]
Read moreSome cases are a two for one deal. This one covers HIPPA and social media. No End-Run Around HIPAA The Defendants sought a protective order to communicate directly with the Plaintiff’s health care providers without notice to the Plaintiff’s attorney and outside of the attorney’s presence. Ford v. United States,[…]
Read moreA New Jersey State Court determined the imputed income of a defendant in a child custody case to be $100,000 after reviewing photos from social media submitted by the Plaintiff. Fitzgerald v. Duff, 2013 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 1376 (App.Div. June 7, 2013). The Court of Appeals reversed the denial of[…]
Read moreCourts will not ReTweet or “Like” discovery requests for social media that are simply fishing expeditions. In Salvato v. Miley, the Plaintiff requested the following discovery: Interrogatory 12 Please identify whether you had any social media accounts and/or profiles including, but not limited to, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, you have had at[…]
Read moreThe New York Court of Appeals denied Nonparty Twitter, Inc.’s appeal in People v Harris as “academic” and moot, because the Tweets in question had been produced pursuant to the State’s subpoenas. New York v. Harris, 2013 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2039 (N.Y. Misc. 2013). The case involved the prosecution of an[…]
Read moreIn an employment dispute, the Defendant sought access to the Plaintiff’s Facebook profile and personal computer. The case had involved several discovery disputes challenging the Plaintiff’s discovery productions. Potts v. Dollar Tree Stores, Inc., 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 38795, 5-9 (M.D. Tenn. Mar. 20, 2013). Among the discovery requests, the Defendant requested[…]
Read more2012 eDiscovery Case Law included everything from Tweets to Computer-Assisted Review. However, there was also a very basic theme that is hard to ignore: Cases should be about the merits. And for cases to be decided on the merits, attorneys need to educate themselves on electronic discovery so they know[…]
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Letters versus telegrams. Faxes versus emails. Attorneys must be familiar with the many ways people have communicated in the everyday course of their lives. “Social media” is just another evolution in technology for possible sources of electronically stored information. Robinson v. Jones Lang Lasalle Ams., is a case centering on a motion[…]
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