In Brooks v. Motsenbocker Advanced Developments, Inc., 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 76230 (S.D. Cal. Sept. 29, 2008), the court granted plaintiff’s motion for leave to take the additional deposition of defendant’s person with knowledge of the computer systems.

Plaintiff had previously requested information regarding defendant's computer systems in interrogatories. According to the court, the defendant did not provide any specific information about its computer systems in response.  Plaintiff argued that if it were not allowed to depose the IT witness, plaintiff would be forced to spend an inordinate amount of resources conducting electronic discovery and filing a motion to recover the costs.  The court agreed and held that the plaintiff had already tried, without success, to obtain the information by other methods.  The court granted the requested deposition noting that it would promote efficiency in the litigation.