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Cases
Sattar
v. Motorola 138 F.3d 1164 (7th Cir.1997)
Plaintiff wanted hard copies of over 200,000 e-mails, since its system couldn’t read defendant’s electronic files. Court affirmed District Court ruling that defendant must equip plaintiff with the capacity to read the files, or pay for half of the hard-copy costs
Anti-Monopoly,
Inc. v. Hasbro Inc. 1995 WK 649934, 1995 U.S.Dist LEXIS 1635, S.D.N.Y.,
1995
Good analysis of digital discovery issues. Plaintiff moved to compel Hasbro to disclose computer database notwithstanding that Hasbro had already disclosed a paper version. Court found that Plaintiff was certainly entitled to databases even though paper copies had been produced, and producing party can be required to design a computer program to extract the data from its computerized business records, subject to the Court's discretion as to the allocation of the costs of designing such a computer program. Court analyzed time and expense required to create such a database, found that potential benefit to plaintiff was speculative, and ordered parties to meet and discuss. When Plaintiff later moved to compel disclosure without having to pay for it, court held that Plaintiff would be required to pay expenses.
Procter
& Gamble Co. v. Haugen, 179 F.R.D. 622, D Utah, 1998
P & G sued competitor and competitor’s distributors for spreading rumors of P & G’s Satanism, specifically alleging defamation, unfair competition, violations of Lanham act, Utah Truth in Advertising Act, etc. Judge Kimball dealt with various motions here, including sanctioning P&G for failing to preserve relevant emails, and allowed P&G to do a keyword search of Defendant’s database on issues concerning agency or control in general, but limited search so that it would not yield general commercial or competitive information.
Simon
Property Group L.P. v. mySimon, Inc. 194 F.R.D. 639, S.D.Ind., 2000
On Plaintiff’s
motion to compel in trademark case, court held that Plaintiff was entitled
to recover deleted computer files, both at office and at home, from
employees of Defendant to show that Defendant acted in bad faith in
selecting its name. Also held that protective measures would be taken,
including appointment of an independent expert to review evidence, to
be paid for by Plaintiff.
Scovish
v. Upjohn Company 1995 WL 731755, Conn.Super., 1995
Action alleging
that Upjohn’s drug Halcion contributed to Plaintiff’s husband’s suicide.
Plaintiff seeks discovery of Upjohn’s base-stamp index, database and
document retrieval system created to assist Upjohn comply with discovery
requests and prepare for litigation. Court found that database was within
attorney work-product, but that Plaintiff had substantial need of database
and undue hardship would result. Ordered Upjohn to produce database
after removing any portions that contain subjective thoughts and opinions.
Superior
Consultant Co., Inc. v. Bailey 2000 WL 1279161, E.D.Mich., 2000
Memorandum and
order relating to Plaintiff’s complaint alleging that Defendant Bailey,
a former employee who had been privy to confidential systems and information,
resigned to work for a competitor and assisted the competitor in recruiting
other employees from Plaintiff. Charges include breach of employment
agreement, tortious interference, breach of fiduciary duty, and violation
of Michigan Uniform Trade Secrets act. Memo grants Plaintiff’s motion
for Temporary Restraining Order and orders, inter alia, that Defendant
Software Technologies Corporation make a backup for Plaintiff’s counsel
of Bailey’s laptop and any other computer hard drives he had access
to.
Fullerton
v. Prudential Ins. Co. 194 F.R.D. 100, S.D.N.Y., 2000
Employment discrimination
case. Affirms magistrate judge’s decision that when Prudential produced
privileged email documents about its internal investigation of gender
discrimination, it thereby waived attorney-client privilege and work-product
privilege of issues within the emails.
Crown
Life Ins. Co. v. Craig 995 F.2d 1376, C.A.7 (Il.), 1993
Insurer brought
action against agent, and agent counter-claimed against insurer, claiming
he was owed commissions. Affirms trial court’s decision to sanction
insurer and enter default judgment against insurer when it failed on
several occasions to comply with discovery order requesting raw data
from database.
In
re Dow Corning Corp. 250 B.R. 298, Bkrtcy.E.D.Mich., 2000
Federal government,
in responding to discovery request for medical records stored in computer
database, directed plaintiffs to warehouses around the world where they
were kept. Court ruled this was not acceptable, that this did not satisfy
their obligation to make the material available at an acceptable place.
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Articles
Joan E. Feldman and
Rodger I. Kohn, "Collecting
Computer Based Evidence," N.Y.L.J. (Jan. 26, 1998).
· Hidden data
· Good discovery practices for both sides
Sheindlin and Rabkin,
"Electronic
Discovery in Federal Civil Litigation: Is Rule 34 up to the Task?"
41 B.C. L. Rev 327 (2000).
· Hidden data
· Uncertainty about what type of electronic data is covered by any given
discovery request/order
· Electronic vs. paper submission of discovery information
· Difficulty of shifting electronic discovery costs
Lacouture, Peter
V. "Discovery and the use of
computer-based information in litigation." Rhode Island Bar Journal
45 (December 1997), 9.
· Good discovery
practice for plaintiffs-use of interrogatories
Johnson-Laird, Andrew.
"Smoking guns and spinning
disks." Computer Lawyer 11 (August 1994), 1.
· Good discovery
practice for plaintiffs-use of experts and well-crafted requests
· Hidden data Process of responding to requests
The
Linnen Story: Excerpt from Mundy, Alicia. "Dispensing
with the Truth"
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