In Romero v. Allstate Insurance Company, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ordered Allstate to produce metadata along with all future electronic discovery based on principles set forth by The Sedona Conference ®.  2010 WL 4138693 (2010).

A class action of former employees' sued Allstate for age discrimination on the grounds that older employees were forced to either sign a release and waiver of all benefits and become independent contractors or face termination.  Discovery began in 2002, at which time no request for metadata was made.  After a declaratory judgment, appeal and remand for further discovery, the class sought production of metadata and disclosure of search terms for ongoing discovery.  Allstate defended on the grounds that a prior agreement as to the scope of discovery negated the need for metadata, the class did not include a request for metadata ten years prior when the case began and the class failed to show a particularized need for metadata.

Disagreeing with Allstate, the Court noted that a letter between counsel eight years prior to the present discovery dispute was broad and not limited in scope, rendering it inapplicable to the present arguments.  The Court also found that Allstate failed to claim this letter precluded the production of metadata when the class first made such a request. Next, the Court noted that although requiring a party to "redo" a document production with metadata is unduly burdensome, the class defeated that argument by conceding that they would only require metadata in future productions, not retroactively.  Finally, the Court cited a passage in Appendix E to The Sedona Guidelines regarding the critical importance of metadata in ensuring accountability and authenticity.  Noting that the burden falls on the objecting party to show hardship or expense, the Court found that a particularized need for metadata existed as it would entitle a class of Plaintiffs to engage in a more effective and meaningful search of Allstate's extensive documentation.  Accordingly, the Court ordered all future electronic productions to include metadata.  

For a full copy of the opinion, click here.