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DOJ’s Untimely Litigation Hold Results in Inadequate ESI Production and Sanctions
In the recent case of U.S. ex rel. Baker v. Community Health Systems, Inc., 2012 WL 5387069 (D.N.M. Oct 3, 2012), the U. S. Department of Justice (DOJ) alleged the defendant engaged in Medicaid fraud. In a motion for sanctions, defendant alleged that the DOJ’s litigation holds were untimely and
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Plaintiff eDiscovery Uncovering Damaging Evidence in Papa John’s Class Action
The class action litigation in the U.S. District Court in Seattle against defendant Papa John’s has now entered the discovery phase. Plaintiffs are consumers who allege the pizza maker and franchisor of over 4,000 restaurants violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). The class was certified last Friday, and plaintiff trial
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Social Media Requests Without “Reasonable Particularity” Struck
The case of Howell v. Buckeye Ranch, Inc., No. 2:11-cv-01014-GLF-MRA (S.D.Ohio Oct.1, 2012) involved an employment discrimination claim based on sexual harassment. As is the case in many sexual harassment cases of late, defendants sought expansive discovery including all of the plaintiff’s user names and passwords for each of her
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Supreme Court to Review Damage Stipulations and the Class Action Fairness Act
The Supreme Court may make a decision that will greatly affect class action lawsuits and plaintiffs across the nation when it hears the case Standard Fire Insurance v. Knowles, No. 11-1450. In Knowles, plaintiffs filed a state court class action for breach of contract against the defendant insurance company. The
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Is eDiscovery Cost Shifting Appropriate Prior to Class Action Certification?
Recently in Boeynaems v. LA Fitness, No. 10-2326 (E.D.P.A. August 16, 2012), the federal district court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania addressed an issue apparently one of first impression – whether cost-shifting to plaintiffs related to pre-class certification discovery, including ESI discovery, was appropriate. Plaintiffs alleged the defendant national fitness chain was engaged
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Electronic Discovery and Incarceration: An Extreme Sanction for An Extreme Case
This blog’s alternate title is the eDiscovery Gang that Couldn’t Spoliate Straight, as both vivid lines are lifted straight from the court’s opinion in Victor Stanley Inc. v. Creative Pipe, Inc. et al., No. MJG-06-2662 (D.C.M.D. 2010). The defendant in this case engaged in what may be the most egregious