E-Discovery-Center

Plaintiff Sanctioned for Destruction of Documents Relevant to Counterclaims

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 17:36:22 +0100

In YCB Intern., Inc. v. UCF Trading Co., Ltd., 2012 WL 3069683 (N.D.Ill. 2012), the Plaintiff, YCB, was sanctioned with a nominal fine and jury instruction after failing to suspend the destruction of documents that, it argued, were not known to be relevant until the Defendant, UCF, disclosed its affirmative defenses.

Non-Lawyer Ownership of Discovery Service Vendors Violates Ethical Rules

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 19:32:19 +0100

On July 19, 2012, the District of Columbia Bar Ethic's Committee issued Ethic's Opinion No. 362, finding that passive non-lawyer ownership of discovery service vendors violated the Rules of Professional Conduct to the extent the discovery service vendor's activities constitute the practice of law.

Post Discovery Dispute Search of Backup Servers Refutes Finding of Bad Faith

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 13:56:06 +0100

In Silver v. Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., 2012 WL 2052949 (11th Cir. 2012), the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a District Court ruling denying spoliation sanctions for failing to issue a formal litigation hold and utilizing a ninety-day email deletion policy.

Court Approves Use of Computer Assisted Review in Appropriate Cases

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 11:29:07 +0100

In Moore v. Publicis Groupe, S.A., Judge Andrew Peck for the United States District Court for the District of Southern New York gave judicial approval of computer-assisted document review processes where counsel design[s] an appropriate process, including use of available technology, with appropriate quality control testing, to review and produce relevant ESI while adhering to Rule 1 and Rule 26(b)(2)(C) proportionality.

Criminal Defendant Ordered to Unencrypt Laptop for Prosecution

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 12:11:28 +0100

In U.S. v. Fricosu, the United States District Court for the District of Colorado ordered a criminal defendant to assist in executing a search warrant against herself by un-encrypting a seized laptop. -- F.Supp.2d ----, 2012 WL 182121 (D.Colo. 2012).

D.C. Court Issues Advisory Opinion on Discovery Related Services

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 18:10:00 +0100

On January 12, 2012, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals Committee on the Unauthorized Practice of Law issues an opinion cautioning against the services provided by discovery service companies.

Failure to Include Post Accident Researcher in Litigation Hold Leads to Adverse Inference

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 11:06:01 +0100

In Yelton v. PHI, Inc., the defendant in a products liability action was sanctioned in the form of an adverse inference and an award of attorneys fees for failing to include a researcher, hired after the triggering event to conduct a simulation of the accident, in its litigation hold. No. 09-3144, 2011 WL 6100445 (E.D.La. December 7, 2011).

Court Sanctions Parties for Doing Nothing and Causing Sale of a Server

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 14:54:05 +0100

In United Central Bank v. Kanan Fashions, Inc., the United States District Court for the District of Northern Illinois awarded monetary sanctions and an adverse inference against defendants who failed to preserve a computer server by doing nothing, as the applicable litigation hold letter instructed them. No. 10 C 331, 2011 WL 4396856 (N.D.Ill. September 21, 2011).

Misunderstanding of Vendor's Software Leads to Waiver of Privilege

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 01:00:00 +0100

In Thorncreek Apartments III, LLC v. Village of Park Forest, the United States District Court for the District of Illinois held that counsel waived privilege to six inadvertently produced documents by failing to properly handle documents flagged as privileged and failing to oversee the online production process. 2011 WL 3489828 (N.D.Ill. 2011).