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Supreme Court of Vermont Affirms Dismissal for eDiscovery Misconduct
The Supreme Court of Vermont has affirmed the dismissal of a complaint based upon the plaintiff’s eDiscovery misconduct. In Synecology Partners, L3C v. Business RunTime, Inc., et. al., Case No. 2015-253 (Sup. Ct. Vt., Mar. 4, 2016), Plaintiff sued Defendants for various business torts, including theft of intellectual property and
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Court Questions Defendants’ Claims That a Lightning Strike and Power Surge Destroyed Computer Hardware
In InternMatch, Inc. v. Nxtbigthing, LLC, et. al., Case No. 14-05438 (N.D. Cali., Feb. 8, 2016), Plaintiff sued Defendants for trademark infringement, alleging that Defendants fraudulently obtained registration of the trademark INTERNMATCH. Before filing suit, Plaintiff notified Defendants of its asserted rights to the trademark; Plaintiff filed suit nearly a year later. The corporate
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California Appellate Court Upholds Terminating Sanctions Due to Cell Phone Wipe
In the defamation case Woodell v. Bernstein, et. al., Case No. 14-2836 (Cal. App., Dec. 30, 2015), Plaintiff claimed to have lost his cell phone while out walking his dog. Defendant Bernstein later found the cell phone on his front law near an uprooted sign endorsing Defendant Kiraly for public office. Defendants
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Monetary Sanctions and Adverse Inference Instruction Ordered Following Document Destruction
In the patent case of Star Envirotech, Inc. v. Redline Detection, LLC et. al., Case No. 12-01861 (C.D. Cal., Dec. 16, 2015), Defendant failed to produce documents responsive to several of Plaintiff’s document requests. After motion practice, the court twice ordered Defendant to produce requested customer information and sales data
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Court of Appeals Affirms Sanctions Following Metadata-Related Discovery Abuses
In Long Bay Management Co., Inc. et. al. v. HAESE, LLC et. al., Case No. 14-P-991 (Mass. App. Ct., Nov. 17, 2015), Plaintiffs sued Defendants, their former legal counsel, for overbilling after a former associate of Defendants informed Plaintiffs that his billing records had been altered without his knowledge. The
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Court Denies Sanctions Motion; Reminds Parties to Properly Meet and Confer
In Whitesell Corporation v. Electrolux Home Products, Inc. et. al., Case No. 103-050 (S.D. Ga., Sept. 10, 2015), Plaintiff’s Interrogatory No. 58 sought identification of every person with knowledge of the Defendants’ document retention policies and who had knowledge of Defendants’ efforts to preserve and produce documents. Defendant Electrolux identified
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Court Weighs Terminating Sanctions After Party Uses “Disk Wiping” Software To Delete Files
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington recently considered whether to dismiss a case as a sanction for discovery abuses in Watkins v. Infosys, Case No. 14-0247 (W.D. Wa., July 23, 2015). Plaintiff sued her former employer for discrimination. In interrogatory responses, Plaintiff stated that she had
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Sanctions and Adverse Inference Instruction Ordered Against Defendant and Counsel for Severe eDiscovery Abuse
In HM Electronics, Inc. v. R.F. Technologies, Inc. et. al., Case No. 12-2884 (S.D. Ca., August 7, 2015), Plaintiff moved for sanctions, alleging that Defendant and its attorneys committed numerous discovery violations, including intentionally destroying relevant documents, falsely certifying that certain documents existed, and filing false reports with the court, among other things. Plaintiff
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Northern District of Georgia Orders $2.7 Million Discovery Sanctions Against Delta Airlines
In In re Delta/AirTran Baggage Fee Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 09-2089, a six year old antitrust litigation regarding baggage fees, the Northern District of Georgia considered whether to impose additional sanctions against Delta Airlines for gross discovery misconduct throughout the case, including the failure to produce ESI and other documents. Plaintiffs had already filed three different discovery sanctions
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District of South Dakota Issues Severe Discovery Sanctions Because of Fraudulent Email
The District of South Dakota recently issued severe sanctions against a defendant engaged in willful discovery misconduct. In Atmosphere Hospitality Management, LLC v. Curtullo et. al., Case No. 13-5040 (July 29, 2015), Plaintiff sued Defendants regarding various contracts between the parties. Multiple discovery disputes arose during litigation, and Plaintiff filed