Blog entries - February 2008

Employee's Act of Forwarding Emails Did Not Constitute "Unauthorized Access" Under CFAA

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In Shamrock Foods Co. v. Gast, (D. Ariz., No. CV-08-0219, 2/20/08), the court held that an employee's act of forwarding his company emails to his personal email account before resigning to work for a competitor was not an "unauthorized" use of the employer's computer for purposes of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The court held that since the employee was permitted to access the documents in the first place, his use of the computer was "authorized" [...]

Proposed FRE Rule 502 Passes Senate

clynn

On February 27, 2008, the Senate unanimously approved a bill that included the new proposed Federal Rules of Evidence, Rule 502. Under the proposed rule, the disclosure of attorney-client or work product protected materials does not operate as a waiver if the disclosure was made inadvertently. The party claiming privilege must take reasonable steps to prevent disclosure and take immediate action to rectify the error, including adherence to the provisions set forth in FRCP [...]

Court Says No to "Native" Production

clynn

Since the 2007 amendments to the FRCP, commentators have been speculating that Rule 34 requires the production of electronically stored information in its "native" format. Rule 34 states that, in the absence of a specific request, electronic data can be produced as it is ordinarily maintained or in a reasonably usable form. Recently, Judge Facciola underscored this point in D'Onofrio v. SFX Sports Group, Inc., 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS [...]

Qualcomm Pays Sanctions Award

clynn

On February 20, 2008, attorneys for Qualcomm filed Qualcomm's reply to Broadcom Corporation's Response to Objections of Responding Attorneys to Sanctions Order of Magistrate Judge. In the short reply, Qualcomm acknowledged a payment of the sanctions award to Broadcom in the full amount of $8,568,633.24.

Court Relies on FRCP in Criminal Case

clynn

In United States v. O'Keefe, 2008 WL 449729 (D. D.C. Feb. 18, 2008), Magistrate Judge John Facciola, held that Rule 34 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure can be used in the criminal context to evaluate whether the government produced electronic documents in an appropriate format. Judge Facciola also opined that evidence related to search term methodology is "clearly beyond the ken of a layman" and requires expert testimony under Federal Rules of Evidence, Rule [...]

Let's Go to The Tape

clynn

Football season may be over, but the early season "spygate" scandal involving the New England Patriots and Coach Bill Belichick's illegal videotaping of the New York Jets' defensive play-calling signals may just be getting started. Senator Arlen Spector is looking into the possibility of congressional hearings over the NFL's destruction of videotaped evidence of the Patriot's wrongdoing. Belichick and the Patriots drew fire and a record fine from the NFL which includ [...]

Six Attorneys Sanctioned in Qualcomm Litigation

clynn

On January 7, 2008, Southern District of California Magistrate Court Judge Barbara Major issued an order granting sanctions against Qualcomm, Inc. and six of its retained lawyers for their collective failure to produce more than 42,000 documents.

In Qualcomm, Inc. v. Broadcom Corp., 05cv1958-B (BLM) (S.D. Cal. 2008), Judge Major found that Qualcomm intentionally and deliberately withheld tens of thousands of decisive documents, including emails, from its opponent in an [...]

Announcing The Newest Member of the Document Control Group Team

pward

Lynn is an accomplished trial lawyer having litigated entertainment, intellectual property, and employment cases in Los Angeles prior to relocating to Phoenix. In addition, he previously served as a trial attorney for the Civil Rights Division, Criminal Section of the U.S. Department of Justice and also served as a special prosecutor for the National Church Arson Task Force. Lynn is a former adjunct professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, California and he is currently an instructor for [...]

Welcome to Document Control Central!

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This is where the business of law and the practice of law intersect, discussing the latest in retention, review and discovery.

Your Host: Cecil Lynn III.

Cecil is Of Counsel to Ryley Carlock and a nationally-known thought leader in E-Discovery

To contact Cecil, email is preferred: cylnn@rcalaw.com

Cecil Lynn II