In American Legalnet, Inc. v. Davis, et. al., 2009 WL 4796401 (C.D. Cal. Nov. 25, 2009), Magistrate Judge Rosalyn Chapman denied plaintiff's expedited discovery request to inspect and review of certain of defendants' hard drives.

Plaintiff filed its complaint against defendants alleging several causes of action including copyright infringement, interference with prospective economic advantage and misappropriation of trade secrets. Plaintiff then filed a motion for limited expedited discovery and to preserve evidence seeking, among other things, direct access to certain of defendants' hard drives so that plaintiff's expert could copy and analyze them.  The court ruled that plaintiff's request went far beyond preserving the status quo and instead sought information on all of defendants' internal and external hard drives.  The court found the plaintiff failed to establish good cause to justify such an overly broad request.