Proportionality Applies to International Trade Disputes As Well
In Timken Co. v. U.S., the plaintiff (“Timken” or “Plaintiff”) challenged the decision of the Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration (“Commerce”), denying Plaintiff access to...
View ArticleDoes the Government Need a Warrant to Access Cell Phone Tracking Information?...
Big Brother is always watching and listening. If there’s one lesson to take away from the recent NSA scandals it’s that the government is not only capable of tracking your every digital move, but also...
View ArticleWant to Produce Documents? Produce Something Else First.
The plaintiff, Torrington Co., sought to challenge a final determination made by the International Trade Administration of the United States Department of Commerce. The case centered upon the discovery...
View ArticleWill A Tangled Web of Preservation Failures Lead to Sanctions?
Preserving electronic data can be a challenge for companies with multiple data centers. However, what we have here is a failure to communicate. The case at issue is an ERISA class action against...
View ArticleWhen are sanctions issued based on evidence destroyed during the ordinary...
Companies issue laptops to their employees to be used for business purposes both in the office and at home. A company’s distributing laptops is joined with the company’s responsibility to preserve the...
View ArticleCould a Party Be Required to Preserve Electronic Documents Owned by Someone...
Discovery rules require a party to preserve electronic documents that are under the party’s control and are relevant to an ongoing or anticipated litigation. Recent cases suggest that courts have been...
View ArticleWhen Is “Discovery On Discovery” Improper?
In Freedman v. Weatherford Int’l Ltd., a putative class action alleging securities fraud, the plaintiff moved for reconsideration of the court’s denial of a motion to compel discovery. The plaintiff...
View ArticleErasing Videotapes Can Be Dangerous for Everyone, Not Just Politicians!
In McCann v. Kennedy Univ. Hosp., Inc., the plaintiff Robert McCann sued Kennedy University Hospital, asking the court to sanction the hospital for intentionally or inadvertently destroying necessary...
View ArticleDoes Forwarding Emails To An Opposing Party Qualify As A Sufficient Method of...
The employee in this case was not an inexperienced layperson, but rather a seasoned and accomplished trial attorney. Yet even with her wealth of knowledge regarding discovery, she was nearly cited for...
View ArticleWhat Happens When ESI Is Lost?
Willfully destroying evidence? Failing to preserve materially relevant evidence? These are just two of the allegations Lisa Alter has made against the Rocky Point School District. Prior to submitting...
View ArticleHow Are Electronic Materials Slipping Through the Cracks? The Scope of...
We have entered the age of information! Every conversation, e-mail, text message, attachment, voicemail, and other electronic data are being stored all day, every day. These types of electronically...
View ArticleHow Generous Can a Court Be in Rewarding Legal Fees As a Result of Violation...
When a party’s violation of discovery rules causes added legal expenses to its adversarial, courts appear to be very generous in approving fee applications. An application only needs to provide...
View ArticleWhat Happens When the Smoking Gun is Thrown in the Recycling Bin?
In January 2014, the Hon. Lawrence E. Kahn in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York granted plaintiff Dataflow, Inc.’s motion for sanctions in a case regarding deleted email...
View ArticleTo Preserve or Not to Preserve? THAT Is the Question
This dispute stems from Plaintiff Linda Riley’s slip and fall at a Marriott hotel in Hawaii (her husband, James, is another named plaintiff). As a result of this fall, in simple terms, Riley broke her...
View ArticleWhen Is “Discovery On Discovery” Improper?, Part 2
In Freedman v. Weatherford Int’l, Ltd., Weatherford hired law firm Latham & Watkins to review allegations of security fraud made to Weatherford’s whistleblower hotline. Latham found no evidence of...
View ArticleHiding Bank Account Records Can Be Criminal—Not Just For the Mob!
During the course of discovery, plaintiff Luellen requested that defendant Hodge produce bank account records. Hodge failed to produce the bank account records, claiming that the bank, Capital One...
View ArticleWhen Do E-Discovery Costs Shift?
It is a known fact that electronic discovery is costly. For which party, however, is e-discovery costly? Does the cost of e-discovery ever shift to the other party or is it shared amongst the parties?...
View ArticleExcessive Force, Missing Video Evidence: Were the Cops Trying to Hide Something?
The Philadelphia Police Commissioner and two police officers were accused of spoliation of evidence in an excessive force case. “Spoliation is the destruction or significant alteration of evidence, or...
View ArticleWhat Kind of Paper Trail Is Inside Your Computer? Deleting It Is Not As...
Have you ever wondered what happens to electronic files when you press the delete button? Or what happens when you put them in the “e-trash?” You may be surprised to find out that getting rid of...
View ArticleWhen Is a Request For Discovery Overbroad and of Speculative Relevance?
Overbroad and unwieldy discovery requests will not be tolerated and will be denied by the courts. A party may not indiscriminately pursue wholesale production of discovery materials, especially when...
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