Source: https://ediscovery.co/ediscoverydaily/electronic-discovery/2018-ediscovery-case-law-year-in-review-part-1/
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 20:44:31+00:00

Document:
It’s that time of year again! Time for our annual review of eDiscovery case law! This is our eighth(!) annual review of cases that we covered on the eDiscovery Daily blog over the past year. As always, we had a number of interesting cases related to various eDiscovery topics. So, as we have done for the last seven(!) years, let’s take a look back at 2018!
As always for the cases we did cover, we grouped them into common subject themes and will review them over the next few posts (a few of them could be categorized in more than one category, so we took our best shot). Perhaps you missed some of these? Now is your chance to catch up!
It’s also worth noting that Tom O’Connor and I will be discussing some of these cases – and what the legal profession can learn from those rulings – on our webcast on Wednesday, January 23rd – Important eDiscovery Case Law Decisions of 2017 and Their Impact on 2018 at noon CT (1pm ET, 10am PT). The webcast is CLE accredited in selected states, so come check it out!
Court Denies Request for Production of Forensic Image: In Apex Colors, Inc. v. Chemworld Int’l Ltd., Inc., Magistrate Judge Paul R. Cherry, finding (among other things) that the defendants “have not met their burden of showing that” the plaintiff had control of the data, denied the defendants’ motion to compel the plaintiff to produce supplemental documents, including a forensically imaged hard drive.
Court Declines to Compel Defendant to Produce Direct Messages Between its Employees: In Shenwick v. Twitter, Inc., California Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim ruled on several discovery disputes between the parties, including denial of a request by the plaintiffs to order the defendants to produce protected direct messages of individual custodians who are not parties.
Court Denies Plaintiff Request for “Quick Peek” to Privilege Log, Proposing Special Master Review Instead: In Winfield v. City of New York, New York Magistrate Judge Katherine H. Parker, ruling on a debate of what constitutes privileged ESI, denied the plaintiff’s request for a “quick peek” at 3,300 documents listed on the defendant’s privilege log, opting to propose instead for a special master to conduct a privilege review of those documents.
Court Orders Plaintiff to Reproduce ESI and Produce Search Term List As Agreed: In Youngevity Int’l Corp., et al. v. Smith, et al., California Magistrate Judge Jill L. Burkhardt, granted the defendants’ motion to compel proper productions against the plaintiffs and ordered the plaintiffs to either provide its search hit list to the plaintiffs, meet and confer on the results and screen the results for responsiveness and privilege OR produce 700,000 additional responsive documents and pay for the defendants to conduct Technology Assisted Review (TAR) on the results. Judge Burkhardt also ordered the plaintiffs to designate “only qualifying documents” as confidential or Attorney’s Eyes Only (AEO) and to pay for the reasonable expenses, including attorney’s fees, of bringing the motion.
Nobody Doesn’t Like Terminating Sanctions for Fabrication of Text Messages: In Lee v. Trees, Inc., Oregon Magistrate Judge John V. Acosta granted the defendants’ motion for terminating sanctions where the plaintiff was found to have manufactured text messages to support her claims of sexual harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination.
Court Grants Key Parts of Motion to Compel Against Safeway: In U.S. ex rel. Proctor v. Safeway, Inc., Illinois Magistrate Judge Tom Schanzle-Haskins allowed the Relator’s motion to compel in part, ordering the defendant to conduct and complete a TAR process on 575,000 issue files previously produced based on key number search alone and also ordering the defendant to produce PDX pharmacy transaction data (PDX Data) – all by March 16. However, Judge Schanzle-Haskins declined to order the defendant to produce the issue files as Image Files since it had previously produced them in native form and instructions only directed the defendant to produce image files if it created a litigation database.
Defendant Sanctioned for “Deliberately” Altering a Skype Communication: In GoPro, Inc. v. 360Heros, Inc., California District Judge Susan Illston denied the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment and denied the defendant’s motion in limine to exclude the testimony of the plaintiff’s forensic analysis expert, but granted (in part) the plaintiff’s motion for partial terminating sanctions against the defendant for forging evidence in two Skype conversations, opting for an adverse inference instruction sanction and reimbursement of expenses related to forensic analysis and testimony instead of the terminating sanctions sought.
Court Denies Party’s Request to Produce in Native Format Instead of TIFF: In the case IN RE SYNGENTA AG MIR 162 CORN LITIGATION, Kansas Magistrate Judge James P. O’Hara, stating that “there is no dispute that documents in TIFF format are easier to work with and enable depositions and court proceedings to run more smoothly”, denied the request of party Louis Dreyfus Company Grains Merchandising LLC (LDC) to relieve it from the production requirements of the case’s ESI Protocol Order to produce electronically stored information (ESI) in TIFF image file format and instead allow LDC to produce in native format.
Court Rejects Plaintiffs’ “Mindlessly Deficient” Objections to Native Format Production: In McDonnel Grp., LLC v. Starr Surplus Lines Ins. Co. et al., Louisiana Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Wilkinson, Jr. granted in part and denied in part the defendants’ motion to compel, granting the defendants’ requests for the plaintiffs to produce construction schedules in native format, to identify responsive materials already produced to other specified defendants’ requests and to provide a privilege log for any documents withheld based on privilege to those requests. Judge Wilkinson denied the defendants’ request for attorney’s fees and other expenses incurred in connection with the defendants’ motion.
Court Rules on Dispute over Native File Format Production and Metadata: In Metlife Inv’rs. USA Ins. Co. v. Lindsey, Indiana Magistrate Judge John E. Martin granted the motion of the defendants/counter plaintiffs (defendants) to compel the plaintiff/counter-defendant (plaintiff) to produce all responsive documents in the form in which they are maintained in the usual course of business (i.e., native files with metadata) and also ordered the defendants to file an itemization of costs and fees, including attorney’s fees, incurred in making the Motion to Compel.
Court Orders Defendants to Resubmit Production of “Inferior” Quality Documents: In Dunne v. Resource Converting, LLC et al., Missouri Magistrate Judge David D. Nocel granted the plaintiff’s motion to compel and to enforce, ordering the defendants to “resubmit to plaintiff the subject low-quality documents in a non-blurry, legible form digitally accessible to plaintiff, and with the same bates-stamp numbers as the original production”. Judge Nocel also ordered the defendants to pay plaintiff’s attorneys’ fees and expenses associated with his motion to compel, but decided that the plaintiff’s request for an independent forensic expert to preside over the technical discovery requests and responses was not warranted at this time.
We’re just getting started! Tomorrow, we will cover cases related to mobile device discovery, technology assisted review, the use of sampling to settle disputes, objections to production requests, an update on an interesting dispute between an eDiscovery provider and their former sales people and we (finally) say goodbye to the ubiquitous Apple v. Samsung case. Stay tuned!

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