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Plaintiff Awarded $36 Million by Default Judgment Stemming from Discovery Abuses
What type of discovery abuse would justify a default judgment and entry of a $36 million damage award? In Stooksbury v. Ross, et al., No. 12-5739/12-6042/12-6230 (6th Cir. 2013), the court reviewed a case filed under the federal RICO statute regarding a fraudulent real estate claim. Plaintiff was an investor
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Plaintiff Awarded Fees for Unorganized and Misclassified Defense Production
In our last blog, we began a discussion of the state court case Hull et al. v. WTI, Inc., A13A0003 (Ga.Ct.App. June 18, 2013). In this complex business litigation case, the defendants produced 156,000 documents that the plaintiffs characterized as unorganized and a violation of defendant’s discovery duties. Additionally, the
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Plaintiff Awarded $134,613 as Sanction for Late Discovery Production
What constitutes a valid excuse for late production when answering plaintiff eDiscovery and document requests? An order dated May 22, 2013 in Nuance Communications Inc. v. Abbyy Software House, et al., No. C 08-02912 JSW (N.D.Cal. 2013) considered an excuse from a defendant when ruling upon plaintiff’s motion for sanctions.
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Qui Tam Plaintiff Awarded $445,505 for ESI Costs
A common topic of interest as plaintiff eDiscovery law develops is what ESI costs and expenses can be shifted to a losing party. In the case U.S. ex rel. Becker v. Tools & Metals, Inc., Civ. No. 3:05-CV-0627-L (N.D.Tex. 2013), a qui tam plaintiff was awarded costs and expenses against
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Sanctions Warranted After Defendant eDiscovery Spoliation Uncovered
One cannot help but wonder what, exactly, was the defendant’s strategy in the case Kirgan v. FCA LLC, Case No. 10-1392 (C.D.Ill. April 10, 2013). In this employment discrimination case, the plaintiff sought the defendant CEO and COO’s electronic calendars to evidence certain meetings on specific dates that supported his
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$4.5 Million Awarded to Plaintiff after Electronic Discovery Spoliation
After a “long, and oftentimes tortuous journey” by a plaintiff in the case E.I. DuPond De Nemours and Company v. Kolon Industries, Inc., Civil Action NO 3:09cv058 (E.D.Va 2013), the court awarded plaintiff a reasonable amount of attorney fees and costs that totaled $4,497,047.50. The court awarded the fees and
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Search Term Disputes: Valid Arguments or a Simple Lack of Cooperation?
Many times, search term disagreements can be resolved through cooperative efforts. Indeed, the “meet and confer” requirement of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure mandates parties to make a good faith effort to resolve such disputes without litigation. In the March 14, 2013 order in the case Robert Bosch LLC
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Electronic Discovery Update: Costs Awarded in “Sledgehammer” Case
Anyone who follows eDiscovery case law is sure to remember the 2012 court order in Taylor v. Mitre Corp., No. 1:11-cv-1247, (E.D.Va.). In the case, the plaintiff brought an employment discrimination claim against his former employer. After filing a claim, he took a sledgehammer to his work laptop. Although he
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Default Judgment Entered Against Defendant in 10th Circuit Discovery Abuse Case
In Klein-Becker USA, LLC v. Englert, No. 12-4076, (10th Cir. 2013), plaintiff brought an action against an individual defendant who fraudulently acquired the plaintiff’s product and was selling it online. The defendant resisted plaintiff discovery requests from the start. Early in the case, in ruling on plaintiff’s motion for sanctions, the magistrate judge
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Plaintiffs Take Note: Deletion of Facebook May Be eDiscovery Spoliation
Our last blog reviewed the facts and timeline in the ongoing New Jersey case and order from Gatto v. United Air Lines, Inc., Civil Action No.: 10-cv-1090-ES-SCM (N.D.N.J. March 25, 2013). The parties disagreed on whether a previous order requiring plaintiff to provide his Facebook account meant the defendant had