eDiscovery

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

ILS Team
December 11, 2019

Objections To Production of Emails Overruled Due To Lack of Privilege

In Guardiola v. Adams City School District No. 14 et al., No. 1:18-cv-03230-RM-NRN (D. Colo. Oct. 25, 2019), the District Court Judge overruled Defendant’s objection to the Magistrate Judge’s order compelling them to disclose certain emails that Defendant argued were subject to the attorney-client privilege on the grounds that “the disputed emails do not directly

ILS Team
December 4, 2019

Motion to Suppress ESI Denied Where An Expectation of Privacy Was Objectively Unreasonable

In United States v. Caputo, No. 3-18-cr-00428-IM (D. Or. Nov. 6, 2019), the Court denied Defendant’s motion to suppress ESI and various emails obtained via a warrant-less search of Defendant’s workplace email account on the grounds that under the military’s computer use policies in effect, “any expectation of privacy in Defendant’s work email was objectively

ILS Team
November 20, 2019

Claw Back of Inadvertently Produced Data Permitted Despite Lack of Rule 502(d) Order

In Bellamy v. Wal-Mart Stores, Texas, LLC, No. SA-18-CV-60-XR (W.D. Tex. Aug. 19, 2019), a Texas District Judge ruled that Defendant was entitled to “claw back” certain documents it unintentionally produced. However, the Judge still considered the inadvertently produced documents in analyzing Plaintiff’s motion for sanctions and granted Plaintiff’s motion to the extent that the

ILS Team
November 13, 2019

Motion To Compel Native Production Denied Because Native Was Not Specified

In Smith v. TFI Family Services, Inc., No. 17-02235-JWB-GEB (D. Kan. Sep. 4, 2019), a Kansas Magistrate Judge denied Plaintiff’s Motion for Order Against Defendant to Show Good Cause Why it Should not be Held in Contempt and Motion for Sanctions for failing to produce ESI in native format with associated metadata. The denial was

ilsteam
October 2, 2019

Plaintiff Not Precluded From Introducing Evidence Regarding Missing ESI

In Saulsberry v. Savannah River Remediations, LLC., No. 1:16-cv-02792-JMC(D.S.C. Sep. 19, 2019), the United States District Court for South Carolina denied Defendant’s motion in limine to bar Plaintiff from making adverse comments regarding Defendant’s failure to produce certain relevant ESI on the grounds that doing so would amount to an absolute bar to Plaintiff’s ability

ilsteam
September 25, 2019

Protocol Which Deprived Defendants Opportunity to Review for Privilege Vacated

In Crosmun v. Trustees of Fayetteville Technical Community College, No. COA18-1054 (N.C. Ct. App. Aug. 6, 2019), the Court of Appeals of North Carolina vacated the lower court’s opinion and remanded for further proceedings after holding that the trial court abused its discretion by compelling the production of ESI through a protocol that allowed Plaintiff’s

ilsteam
September 18, 2019

Sanctions Granted Due To Defendant “Willfully” Acting To Prevent Plaintiff From Accessing Photographic Evidence

In Wilmoth v. Deputy Austin Murphy, No. 5:16-CV-5244 (W.D. Ark. Aug. 7, 2019), an Arkansas District Judge granted Plaintiff’s motion for spoliation on the grounds that Defendant’s conduct exhibited an “intent to deprive” Plaintiff of the use of photographs that supported Plaintiff’s excessive force claim against Defendant. This case involves claims of excessive use of

ilsteam
September 13, 2019

Failure To Preserve Police Dash Cam Video Results in Sanctions

In Woods v. Scissons, No. CV-17-08038-PCT-GMS (D. Ariz. Aug. 14, 2019), an Arizona Chief District judge granted in part and denied in part Plaintiff’s motion for sanctions for spoliation of video footage of an arrest involving Plaintiff and Defendant, a police officer with the Prescott Police Department. In this case, the Court ruled that non-party