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Adverse Inference Sanctions for ESI Spoliation: A Case Update
Spoliation refers to the intentional destruction of evidence that would be favorable to the other side. While it may sound like the stuff of a television procedural and not real litigation, spoliation of electronic evidence such as emails and data files is quite common. Federal courts may sanction the spoliating
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Email Communications: Top eDiscovery Cases of 2016 Regarding Spoliation and Formatting
Email communications and threads continue to be among the leading categories of electronic data relevant to civil litigation. As such, there are numerous eDiscovery cases regarding disputes over email preservation, native file format, spoliation and more. So what has happened regarding email production as a part of electronic discovery so
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Electronic Discovery and Spoliation in Employment Law Cases: An Update
Plaintiff ESI and Employer Electronic Data at Issue Employment law cases, whether they are individual or class action lawsuits, will almost invariably involve eDiscovery. In some situations, employees’ computers, hard drives, flash drives and mobile devices may be requested for production and/or forensic imaging. Additionally, employees need to request a
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Southern District of Ohio Grants Preservation Order as to Non-Party
In Chiropractic & Rehabilitation Center, Inc. v. Foot Levelers, Inc., et. al., Case No. 16-236 (S.D. Ohio, Apr. 27, 2016), Plaintiff sued Defendants for allegedly violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by sending unsolicited marketing materials to Plaintiff and others. Plaintiff sought certification for a class action lawsuit, and thus
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The Sanction of Dismissal – A Terminating Sanction that Costs a Party the Case
Refusal to turn over evidence and spoliation of evidence are serious matters, and courts will often respond by ordering monetary sanctions against the offending party, or by ordering other types of sanctions, such as adverse inference instructions. One rarely-used form of sanction, however, is the most serious – the sanction
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Court Compels Plaintiffs to Produce Access Database for Forensic Metadata Analysis
In Thorne Research, Inc. et. al. v. Atlantic Pro-Nutrients, Inc., Case No. 13-784 (D. Utah, Mar. 22, 2016), a patent infringement suit involving a nutritional supplement formula, Defendant filed a Motion to Compel, seeking a complete copy of a database Plaintiffs’ inventor Donald Steele used to enter the patented formulas at
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Ninth Circuit Affirms Terminating Sanction for ESI Spoliation
In an unpublished decision, Roadrunner Transportation Services, Inc. v. Tarwater, Case Nos. 15-55448 and 14-55529 (9th Cir., Mar. 18, 2016), the Ninth Circuit reviewed entry of default judgment based upon an order imposing a terminating sanction for spoliation. In the underlying litigation, Plaintiff employer sued Defendant former employee for violations of
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Plaintiff Hires Computer Forensic Expert to Set up Fire Wall; Suspects Defendant Ex-Wife Hacked His Computer
In Sachdev v. Singh, Case No. 15-7114 (S.D. N.Y., Feb. 26, 2016), Plaintiff sued his ex-wife, alleging that she had violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) and intentionally interfered with his contractual relations. Plaintiff, an Indian citizen, married Defendant, an American citizen, in 2007; they separated in 2010. During their divorce proceedings,
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Adverse Inference Sanction Ordered Following Defendant’s Intentional Spoliation of ESI
In Brown Jordan International, Inc. et. al. v. Carmicle, Consolidated Case Nos. 14-60629 and 14-61415 (S.D. Fla., Mar. 2, 2016), Defendant, an engineer working for Plaintiffs, wrote a letter accusing various of Plaintiffs’ agents and officers of fraud. Plaintiffs, concerned about terminating Defendant and being accused of retaliation, hired an
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Computer Forensics Expert Examines Defendant’s Hardware
In Malibu Media, LLC v. Doe, Case No. 13-6312 (N.D. Ill., Feb. 8, 2016), Plaintiff sued Defendant for allegedly impermissibly downloading its movies using the software BitTorrent. Plaintiff claimed to have identified Defendant using his IP address. Defendant denied the allegations and disputed Plaintiff’s method of proof. The parties filed cross-motions