Blog entries - April 2008

Blanket Assertions of Hardship Are Insufficient to Warrant Cost Shifting

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In Mikron Indus., Inc. v. Hurd Windows & Doors, Inc., 2008 WL 1805727 (W.D. Wash. Apr. 21, 2008), the court rejected defendants' claims that searching through their electronically stored information (ESI) would be unduly burdensome and produce cumulative results. Defendant filed a motion for protective order asking the court to shift the costs of defendants' remaining electronic discovery obligation to plaintiff. The court denied the motion finding that defendants failed [...]

NJ Court Requires Valid Subpoena for ISP records

clynn

The New Jersey Supreme Court held that a valid subpoena is required to seek disclosure of private subscriber information from an Internet Service Provider ("ISP"). In State of New Jersey v. Shirley Reid (A-105-06, April 21, 2008), defendant's employer used a sham subpoena to obtain information from Comcast. The resulting information confirmed the company's suspicion that the defendant had changed the username and password for the company's website. The company turned [...]

Court Holds Declaratory Relief Inappropriate to Determine Preservation Obligation

clynn

In State of Texas v. City of Frisco, 2008 WL 828055 (E.D. Tex. Mar. 27, 2008), the court dismissed as "not ripe for adjudication", plaintiff's request for a declaratory judgment that the defendant's letter seeking the preservation of documents relating to potential litigation violated the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

Specifically, the State asked the court to determine "[w]hether it is a violation of Rule 26(f) and 34 to require an entity to broadly [...]

Emergency Response Systems Coming to Cell Phones

clynn

According to CNN, the Federal Communications Commission is expected to announce a nationwide alert system that will use cell phones or other mobile devices to send text messages to Americans during a widespread disaster, severe weather, child abduction or other emergency.

Cell phone companies have indicated that they plan to sign up for the service. It appears that cell phone service subscribers will be automatically enrolled in the program, but may opt out.

Plaintiff's Previous Production of PDF & Hard Copy Sufficient Without Metadata

clynn

There's an old saying that long case titles make good law. Well, we can add to the list the case of Autotech Technologies Limited Partnership v. Automationdirect.com, 2008 WL 902957 (N.D. Ill. April. 2, 2008).

In response to defendant's document request, plaintiff produced, among other things, a hard copy and PDF copy of a document entitled "EZTouch File Structure." Plaintiff unsuccessfully moved to compel a copy of the document in its native Microsoft® Wor [...]

White House Email "Scandal": Is it All Smoke and No Fire

clynn

In Alexander v. F.B.I, 2008 WL 903115 (D.D.C. April 3, 2008), district court held that neither the White House nor its counsel acted in bad faith or engaged in any obstruction of justice related to missing and deleted emails. The court's ruling followed an evidentiary hearing to determine the veracity of statements regarding the storage and archival of emails in the White House's automated records management system. It turned out that some emails were not archived due to a & [...]

Court Denies Motion to Depose Hilary Clinton

clynn

The White House email debacle continues in Alexander v. F.B.I., 2008 WL 879296 (D.D.C. March 31, 2008). In addition to denying plaintiffs' motions for orders to show cause regarding discovery disputes as to electronic information requested from the White House, the court also denied plaintiffs' motion to depose the former first lady Hilary Rodham Clinton.

Court Orders "Limited Inspection of Computers for Party "Kicking and Screaming"

clynn

In U & I Corp. v. Advanced Medical Design, Inc., 2008 W.L. 821993 (M.D. Fl. March 26, 2008), plaintiff, a medical equipment company based in Korea, blamed its failure to preserve and produce documents on "confusion, software formatting, language barriers and understanding of the U.S. legal system." The court was not moved and held that plaintiff failed to show a substantial justification for its failure and unwillingness to abide by court orders and the rules o [...]