ESI Case Law

ILS Team
May 14, 2020

In Denying Forensic Exam, Court Rules that FRCP 34(a) Does Not Create A Routine Right of Direct Access To Electronic Information Systems

In The Ruby Slipper, LLC v. Belou, et al, No. 18-1548 (E.D. La April 6, 2020), Chief Magistrate Judge Karen Wells Roby denied Plaintiff’s Motion for Supplemental Forensic Examination which sought to forensically examine previously undisclosed computers on the grounds that Defendant did not violate the previous Order on Protocol for Forensic Examination and that

ILS Team
May 7, 2020

Request For Inspection Of Cellphone Denied Where Request Was Not Proportional And Less Intrusive Production Of Text Messages Was Sufficient

In Santana v. MKA2 Enterprises, Inc., No. 18-2094-DDC-TJJ (D. Kan. Jan. 8, 2019), a Magistrate Judge denied Defendant’s Motion to Compel regarding Defendant’s request for Plaintiff to produce all of his cellphones for inspection and copying while also ordering Plaintiff to “produce complete copies of all responsive text messages to the extent they have not

ILS Team
April 30, 2020

Medical Record Metadata Ordered To Be Produced In Light Of Different And Conflicting Versions of Plaintiff’s Medical Records

In Miller v. Sauberman, Index No. 805270/16 (N.Y. Dec. 6, 2018), a New York Supreme Court Justice denied Defendant’s motion for a protective order and granted Plaintiff’s cross-motion to compel the production of metadata related to Plaintiff’s medical records, despite Defendant’s estimated cost of $250,000 to produce such records. In an action for medical malpractice,

ILS Team
April 23, 2020

Defendant’s Request for Return of iPhone Denied Where Government’s Evidentiary Interest In Phone Outweighed Defendant’s Interest In Its Return

In U.S. v. Morgan, No. 1:18-CR-00108 EAW (W.D. N.Y. March 6, 2020), a New York District Judge denied Defendant’s Motion for Return of Property under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41(g) on the grounds that, at least at this stage of the proceedings, the Government’s evidentiary interest in the subject iPhone outweighs Defendant’s interest in

ILS Team
April 16, 2020

Meet And Confer Impasse Reached With “OK. File Motion to Compel” Response

In White v. Relay Res. & Gen. Servs. Admin., No. C19-0284-JCC (W.D. Wash. Feb. 14, 2020), a Washington judge granted Defendant’s motion to compel after finding that Plaintiff’s conduct and responses did not reflect a good faith effort to comply with discovery rules. Accordingly, the Court ordered Plaintiff to provide the information requested in each

ILS Team
April 9, 2020

In Slip And Fall Case, Motion For Spoliation Of Video Denied Where No Duty to Preserve Video Arose Until After Lawsuit Was Filed

In Nguyen v. Costco Wholesale Corp., No. 9:19-cv-80393 (S.D. Fla. Jan. 27, 2020), a Florida Magistrate Judge denied plaintiff’s motion for sanctions for spoliation of a video allegedly showing a slip-and-fall by plaintiff on the grounds that defendant had no affirmative duty to preserve the video for the nearly two-year gap between the alleged accident

ILS Team
April 2, 2020

Producing Party Not Required To Translate Nor Costs To Translate Shiftable Rules Court

In NY Machinery v. The Korean Cleaners Monthly, No. 2:17-12269-SDW-ESK (D. N.J. Jan. 6, 2020), a New Jersey Magistrate Judge denied plaintiff’s application seeking to compel defendants to translate documents served as part of their document production on the grounds that “Rule 34 does not address which party has the obligation to translate documents into

ILS Team
March 26, 2020

PDF Production Ruled Insufficient In Case Involving Theft of Trade Secrets

In Balancecxi, Inc. D/B/A Zacoustic v. International Consulting and Research Group, LLC, et al (W.D. Tex, Mar. 13, 2020), the Court granted plaintiffs’ motion to compel requiring defendants to produce all ESI, including metadata, and additional storage devices after finding that defendants’ discovery responses were insufficient in both form and content. The lawsuit alleged that

ILS Team
December 25, 2019

Use Of Messaging App To Auto Delete Text Messages During Discovery Phase of Case Was In Bad Faith

In Herzig v. Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care, Inc., No. 2:18-CV-02101 (W.D. Ark. July 3, 2019), the Arkansas District Judge found that Plaintiffs acted in bad faith by using and “manually configuring [the messaging app] Signal to delete text communications” and by failing to disclose those deleted messages to Defendant. However, the Court declined to

ILS Team
December 18, 2019

Motion to Redact Discovery Hearing Transcript Denied On Public Interest Grounds

In Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. v. Oxford Nanopore Tech., Inc. et al., Nos. 17-275-LPS, 17-1353-LPS (D. Del. Nov. 4, 2019), the Court denied Defendant’s Motion to Redact Portions of the August 14, 2019 Discovery Teleconference and related submissions on the grounds that “the public has an interest in understanding judicial proceedings, even if they