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This case involves a personal injury lawsuit filed by Plaintiff Paul Torgersen, who claims he suffered an electrocution and fall at a construction site on June 14, 2017.
In Holly Deibler, et al. v. SanMedica International, LLC, et al., the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey addressed a motion to compel discovery responses in a putative class-action challenging the advertising and efficacy of SeroVital-Hgh.
The Central District of California granted plaintiff Full Tilt Boogie LLC’s motion for attorney's fees following discovery violations by the defendants, KEP Fortune LLC (“KEP”).
In this case, Boeing filed a "Motion to Compel Compliance with Rule 30(b)(6) Topics Regarding Comair's Spoliation of Evidence," seeking to force Comair to provide a witness to testify about its document preservation and collection processes.
In the case of Fumiko Lopez et al. v. Apple, Inc., the central issue revolves around Apple's failure to preserve electronically stored information (ESI) related to Siri recordings, which were relevant to ongoing litigation. Apple did not suspend its data retention policy despite being served with the plaintiffs' complaint, leading to the deletion of potentially crucial ESI.
In the case of CEMCO, LLC v. KPSI Innovations, Inc., the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington addressed CEMCO's motion for sanctions against the defendants for failing to comply with discovery requests related to a patent infringement dispute.
The case of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and Alicia Farran v. Formel D USA, Inc. underscores the importance of information governance for organizations in a world increasingly entrenched in data.
In the case of Derek Snead v. City of Lake City, Florida, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida addressed significant procedural issues surrounding the discovery process.
Are you a small law firm grappling with the complexities of e-discovery? Data management, cost control, and compliance can be overwhelming, but there are effective strategies to simplify the process.
The Women, Influence & Power in Law conference in Chicago was in full swing this year! Legal Speak’s Cedra Mayfield sat down with Nicole Gill, Chair and Managing Member of CODISCOVR, an ancillary business of Cozen O'Connor.
In the case of Greg Moore et al. v. Sean Garnand et al., the plaintiffs, the Moores, alleged violations of their constitutional rights stemming from the execution of search warrants related to an arson investigation.
In Gonzalez Gomez v. Epic Landscape Productions, a group of current and former landscape laborers brought a class action lawsuit against Epic Landscape Productions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and various state wage laws. The plaintiffs alleged that Epic failed to pay them overtime wages for hours worked beyond 40 per week, compensating them only at a straight-time rate. Additionally, the plaintiffs made claims under Missouri state law, citing breach of contract related to the employment of H-2B visa workers and unjust enrichment concerning unpaid wages.
In the case Kosher Ski Tours Inc. v. Okemo Limited Liability Co., Kosher Ski Tours Inc. (KST) initiated a lawsuit against Okemo Limited Liability Company (Okemo), alleging breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and racial discrimination under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981 and 1982, as well as the Vermont Fair Housing and Public Accommodations Act (VPAA)
In an ongoing discovery dispute between the Plaintiffs Craigville Telephone Company and Defendants T-Mobile USA, Inc. (TMUS), the Court addressed two motions: Plaintiffs' Renewed Motion to Compel Production of Certain Documents and Plaintiffs' Motion to Supplement the Renewed Motion with Related Interrogatories.
In the case Ford Motor Company, et al. v. Edgewood Properties Inc., Edgewood raised issues regarding Ford's production of documents, particularly concerning the format in which the documents were produced and the timeliness of Edgewood's objections.
In the case Two Canoes LLC v. Addian Inc., the District of New Jersey addressed issues regarding the alleged spoliation of evidence, particularly concerning the failure of Defendant Addian Inc. (“Addian”) to preserve WeChat messages. Plaintiff Two Canoes LLC (“Two Canoes”) filed a motion that alleged Addian spoliated evidence when Defendant Addian failed to preserve crucial WeChat messages.
In the case Amimon Inc. v. Shenzhen Hollyland Tech Co., the court dealt with issues related to the enforcement of a protective order and the preservation of evidence. Central to the dispute was whether Shenzhen Hollyland had complied with discovery obligations under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(b). The court found that Shenzhen Hollyland violated these obligations by failing to produce certain relevant documents and not preserving evidence properly.
In The Trade Group, Inc. v. BTC Media, LLC, et al., the dispute centers around a breach of contract related to the organization of Bitcoin 2022 in Miami. The Trade Group (TTG) had successfully collaborated with BTC Media (BTC) for Bitcoin 2021, but tensions arose when TTG presented a significantly higher budget estimate for Bitcoin 2022. A key issue in the case involved the preservation of electronically stored information (ESI), specifically text messages from TTG's lead salesman, Neeshu Hajra.
In the case of Ellis v. PB Ventilating Systems, Inc., Plaintiff Peter Ellis filed a civil rights lawsuit against his former employer under 42 U.S.C. § 1981, alleging discrimination and retaliation based on race and age. During the lawsuit, Ellis accused his former employer of failing to maintain relevant ESI, which he claimed was critical to proving his allegations. The Defendants similarly accused Ellis of spoliation with respect to his company-issued cell phone, as text messages directly related to the claims and defenses of the allegations were lost. The Defendants filed a Motion for Sanctions and Spoliation of Evidence pursuant to Rule 37(e) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
In the case of Traverse Therapy Services, PLLC v. Sadler-Bridges Wellness Group, PLLC, James Boulding-Bridges, and Haley Campbell (CASE NO. C23-1239 MJP), the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington at Seattle, presided by Judge Marsha J. Pechman, denied the plaintiff's motion to compel and motion for sanctions.
In the case Michelle Maziar v. City of Atlanta, Maziar, the former Director of the Atlanta Mayor's Office of Immigration Affairs, claimed wrongful termination in retaliation for her complaints about pay disparities and the misuse of COVID-19 relief funds. The court reviewed her objections to a magistrate judge's order denying spoliation sanctions against the City for failing to preserve key text messages. The judge found that the City had indeed failed to maintain relevant evidence, leading to sanctions including the denial of the City’s summary judgment motion and awarding attorneys’ fees to Maziar.
In the case of John Doe 1, et al., v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) filed a motion to compel the production of social media feeds and associated information from the plaintiffs, current and former college baseball players alleging sexual harassment and misconduct by their coaches at the University of San Francisco. The court disapproved of the plaintiffs’ approach to eDiscovery and granted the NCAA’s motion to compel production of electronically stored information from the plaintiffs’ social media accounts.
In the case In re StubHub Refund Litigation, the primary issue revolved around the defendant, StubHub’s motion to modify the Electronically Stored Information (ESI) Order. The existing ESI Order required that emails be produced with all parents and child records intact, including documents linked via hyperlinks as attachments. The case delved into the technical complexities and practical challenges associated with managing ESI in litigation in the modern business world.
In the case of Byte Federal, Inc. v. Lux Vending LLC d/b/a Bitcoin Depot, The Cardamone Consulting Group, LLC, and Huddled Masses, Inc., filed in the United States District Court, Middle District of Florida, Byte Federal initiated legal action alleging trademark infringement of its "BYTEFEDERAL" trademark.
A recent decision in an employment case highlights the risks that parties assume when they search and collect electronically stored information (ESI) by themselves. The decision stresses that a search conducted without the supervision of attorneys and technical or forensic experts raises significant questions about the thoroughness and accuracy of the search as well as concerns about spoliated evidence. Therefore, such a search is likely to derail the schedule of the litigation with motions to compel that could lead to sanctions.
In a recent announcement, Cozen O'Connor revealed the addition of Caitlin Oyler to their Codiscovr team, marking the first West Coast-based member. Oyler, who joins from Redgrave LLP, brings over three years of experience in e-discovery and information governance. Her expertise spans all phases of the e-discovery life cycle, including advising clients on complex litigation and investigations.
CODISCOVR, an ancillary business of Cozen O’Connor focusing on eDiscovery and information governance, today announced Caitlin Oyler joins the team as counsel and will practice out of the firm’s Los Angeles office. Oyler is the first CODISCOVR member on the West Coast.
A salacious case, involving a groping allegation by superstar Taylor Swift, offers two sober lessons about e-discovery: (1) the difficulty of prevailing on a request for an adverse inference to be drawn from spoliation of evidence; and (2) the critical importance of seeking lesser discovery sanctions in a timely manner prior to seeking the adverse inference sanction.
A recent decision in a whistleblower case against a nonprofit sports association and its employees makes clear that an organization has the right to take back electronic devices in the possession of a co-defendant employee when the devices are owned by the organization. Moreover, the decision stresses that the defendant organization is prejudiced without these devices because an employee’s knowledge is imputed to the organization, and it needs the devices to learn what the employee co-defendant knew and did.
A recent decision ordering the production and imaging of an entire personal laptop provides guidance as to when such a drastic measure is appropriate. This decision serves as a reminder that discovery is meant to allow parties broad access to information that is relevant to any party’s claim or defense, and that the consequences of not complying with appropriate discovery requests for electronically stored information (ESI) can lead to significantly more intrusive discovery being ordered against the producing party.
A recent decision in a case relating to the sale of a medical practice provides a reminder of how important it is for a party to specify its preferred electronically stored information (ESI) production format in the discovery requests or the ESI protocol. Otherwise – so long as the ESI is produced in the form in which it is ordinarily maintained or in a usable form – the requesting party is not likely to be successful in compelling reproduction of the ESI in a different format.
In a recent case involving an administrative summons issued by the IRS, a federal court denied the respondent’s request for a clawback order under Rule 502(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The court’s analysis hinged on the fact that a summary proceeding before the IRS is unlike civil litigation, in which 502(d) orders are routinely entered to allow the return of documents that a party belatedly determines are protected by the attorney-client privilege or the work product doctrine. A 502(d) order allows parties to claw back inadvertently produced privilege documents with “no questions asked,” while such documents are otherwise handled under Rule 502(b), which requires a party to make a number of showings before it is allowed to claw back documents.
An employee found out the hard way that utilizing her work email account to communicate with her personal attorney was a risky choice, after the court considering her employment discrimination claims found that any privilege related to such communications had been waived.
A recent decision involving a business dispute over the sale of a company illustrates the standard a party must meet to compel designation of an ESI custodian: the judge denied the motion, finding it was the movant’s burden to show that the additional requested custodians were in the possession of “uniquely relevant information” and not the respondent’s responsibility to prove that they were not. This deference to the responding party is directly aligned with Principle 6 of the Sedona Principles, which provides “[a] responding party should determine how to meet its own preservation and production obligations.”
The judge in an employment case against the New York Fed grants in part and denies in part a motion for discovery sanctions after finding the plaintiffs’ repeated discovery failures constituted intentional bad faith and wasted Court time and resources.
CODISCOVR’s Joseph Tate, Nicole Gill, and Kenneth Carruth were proud exhibitors at the Cozen O'Connor-sponsored Construction Super Conference last week.
In a trade secret case, a federal district court orders the imaging of employees’ work laptops, but not their personal cellphones.
On Wednesday, January 10, 2024, Nicole Gill will speak on the “Exporting Data from the People’s Republic of China” panel at the Sedona Conference Working Group 6 (WG6) Annual Meeting.
A plaintiff is reminded that Rule 45 does not permit parties to object to third-party subpoenas on burden or relevance grounds.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld a district court’s decision to terminate a case and impose attorney fees and costs as sanctions for the plaintiff’s fabrication and spoliation of evidence.
Nicole Gill recently contributed to an article for Legaltech News on how, if adopted more broadly by e-discovery professionals, generative AI could impact some proceedings and even challenge the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure that govern them—though how soon such an impact could be felt is likely too early to tell.
Stubhub was chastised in a recent discovery order for agreeing to an ESI protocol, failing to produce documents according to the terms of the protocol, and then arguing that compliance with the protocol was impossible.
A Maryland court denied a plaintiff’s motion for spoliation sanctions, finding that he did not meet his burden of demonstrating that the defendants had an “intent to deprive” him of lost data.
In a case before the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont, the court largely rejected the defendants’ arguments to avoid supplementation to their discovery production, and granted in part the plaintiff’s motions to compel.
A federal court considering a products liability case cautioned that attorneys may not rely on custodial self-collections and must instead test the accuracy of their clients’ discovery efforts.
A federal court recently addressed a party’s request for access to the personal email account of the opposing party’s Director of Operations, finding that the requesting party failed to meet its burden of establishing that the account was in the opposition’s “control.”
Lawyers can and should embrace generative AI technology for use in the eDiscovery context, utilizing a trust-but-verify approach — just as we have done for other AI technologies.
Previously part of a brainstorming group, Gill will now be part of the drafting team to develop commentary on the topic of Exporting Data from the People’s Republic of China.
In a recent contract dispute, the court held that relevancy redactions were allowable even though a protective order was in place.
A recent decision found that a party was required to review documents for relevance before producing them, relying on an ESI protocol provision stating a party’s obligation to conduct a reasonable search for documents.
A recent decision declined to find the requisite “intent to deprive” when a plaintiff was unable to produce text messages because his phone had been stolen and he had not taken measures to back up its contents, despite initiating litigation almost a year prior to the theft.
Joe Tate and Nicole Gill offer insight on a decision regarding possession, custody, or control in a recent case between PGA, Inc., and professional golfers.
CODISCOVR Counsel Nicole Gill was recently quoted in an article for Legaltech News on how diverging possession, custody, or control tests impact eDiscovery outcomes.
In a recent decision, Google was sanctioned for its failure to suspend the auto-deletion of internal Google Chat messages following the issuance of a litigation hold
On Tuesday, May 9, 2023, CODISCOVR Managing Director Joe Tate will be on the panel of Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law's upcoming CLE program.
A recent decision illustrates the importance of ensuring data is properly preserved following the onset of litigation.
This Justice Department mishap illustrates the importance of avoiding inadvertent disclosures of confidential information, which are difficult to put “back in the box” once it has been viewed by opposing counsel.
On Wednesday, March 29, CODISCOVR Managing Director Joe Tate will speak at this CLE class in Washington, D.C., for new and more experienced attorneys alike seeking practical tips on drafting privilege logs.
On Friday, March 24, CODISCOVR Managing Director Joe Tate will speak at The Sedona Conference Institute's program in Atlanta, Georgia, focused on practical strategies to avoid or resolve conflicts that commonly occur around electronically stored information.
CODISCOVR Managing Director Joe Tate has been promoted to Member at Cozen O'Connor.
Judges will ultimately determine the proportionality of discovery based on what they believe is essentially needed. That need is best defined by an appropriately negotiated ESI protocol with reasonable search terms.
While the concepts of possession, custody, and control have blurred in our electronic world, there are a few emerging trends. CODISCOVR Counsel Joe Tate and Nicole Gill share insight.
On Thursday, March 16, CODISCOVR Counsel Joe Tate and Nicole Gill, will speak at this seminar focused on workplace security, data protection, and crisis communications for small to mid-sized law firms.
On Tuesday, January 24, CODISCOVR Counsel Joe Tate and Nicole Gill spoke to the Association of Corporate Counsel's Litigation Network about the intersection of information governance and eDiscovery.
Nicole Gill will speak on the panel “Exploring Data From the People’s Republic of China” at The Sedona Conference Working Group 6 (WG6) Annual Meeting.
Nicole Gill has been selected to join The Sedona Conference Working Group Series 6 Brainstorming Group (WG6) on the Data Security Law and Personal Information Protection Law in the People’s Republic of China.
Joe Tate was quoted in an article published by Legaltech News that discusses organizations’ struggle to hire and retain eDiscovery project managers.
Joe Tate and Nicole Gill attended the Sedona Conference's 2022 eDiscovery Negotiation Training.
Joe Tate and Nicole Gill published an article to The Legal Intelligencer discussing how as the eDiscovery lifecycle has matured, information governance has taken on a more prominent and important role as the foundational stage of the process.
Nicole Marie Gill and Emily Plowcha published an article to Bloomberg Law discussing technological solutions for eDiscovery professionals when working remotely.
Joe Tate was quoted in an article published by Legaltech News discussing how he hasn’t seen the demand for eDiscovery talent in the market this high in years.
Joe Tate and Emily Plowcha contributed an article to The Legal Intelligencer discussing how the remote work environment has significantly impacted eDiscovery and the ethical obligations of attorneys in the ever-evolving technological and legal landscape.
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