eDiscovery Daily Blog

eDiscovery Year in Review: eDiscovery Case Law, Part 3

 

As we noted the past two days, eDiscovery Daily has published 65 posts related to eDiscovery case decisions and activities over the past year, covering 50 unique cases!  Yesterday, we looked back at cases related to privilege & inadvertent disclosures, proportionality and eDiscovery service disputes, including the notable McDermott Will & Emery eDiscovery malpractice case.  But, we still have more cases to review.  So, let’s keep going!

We grouped those cases into common subject themes and will review them over the next few posts.  Perhaps you missed some of these?  Now is your chance to catch up!

SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media affects all aspects of litigation from the discovery of data from social media web sites to social media communication during trial.  You even have jurors trying to “friend” participants in the case!

Organizations now have to not only plan for preserving, collecting, reviewing and producing conventional data, but also posts, tweets, IMs and more.  You know that already.  What you may not know is that in nearly every case discussed in eDiscovery Daily this past year where social media data was requested, that request was granted.  Oh, and if you have text messages as evidence, you may have to provide corroborating evidence to verify authorship of those text messages for them to be admissible – at least in Pennsylvania.  Here are eight cases related to social media issues:

Jurors and Social Media Don’t Mix.  Discovery of social media is continuing to increase as a significant issue for organizations to address, with more and more cases addressing the topic. However, when it comes to social media, courts agree on one thing: jurors and social media don’t mix. Courts have consistently rejected attempts by jurors to use social technology to research or to communicate about a case, and have increasingly provided pre-trial and post-closing jury instructions to jurors to dissuade them from engaging in this practice.

Cut and Paste Makes the Cut as Evidence.  In this case, the defendant in a criminal case appealed his conviction and raised the issue of whether the prosecution properly authenticated instant messages cut-and-pasted into a Microsoft Word document.

Defendant Can’t Be Plaintiff’s Friend on Facebook.  In this case, Bucks County, Pa., Common Pleas Court Judge Albert J. Cepparulo denied the motion from the defendant requesting access to the photos of plaintiff Sara Piccolo posted in her Facebook account, rejecting McMillen v. Hummingbird Speedway, Inc., in which the court ordered the plaintiff to provide his username and password to the defendant’s attorney, as a precedent.

Social Media Posts Deemed Discoverable in Personal Injury Case.  A Pennsylvania court recently ordered the plaintiff in a personal injury lawsuit to disclose social media passwords and usernames to the defendant for eDiscovery. Discoverability of social media continues to be a hot topic in eDiscovery, as eDiscovery Daily has noted in summaries of prior cases that reflect varied outcomes for requests to access social media data.

A Pennsylvania Court Conducts Its Own Social Media Relevancy Review.  Pennsylvania seems to be taking the lead in setting social media discovery precedents. In this case, a Pennsylvania court agreed to review a plaintiff's Facebook account in order to determine which information is subject to discovery in a case relating to the plaintiff's claim of injury in a motor vehicle accident.

Defendant Ordered to Re-Post Infringing Photograph to Facebook Profile.  In this case, a New Jersey court ordered the defendant to re-post a photograph displaying infringing trade dress to his Facebook profile for a brief period of time to allow the plaintiff to print copies, in a case involving trademark infringement.

Court Rules 'Circumstantial Evidence' Must Support Authorship of Text Messages for Admissibility.  When are text messages admissible in court? Which text messages qualify as evidence, and what does it take to prove authorship of a text message? A recent opinion from the Pennsylvania Superior Court addresses these very issues in an old yet new way, perhaps setting the precedent for future cases and opening what seems to be a potential Pandora's Box of obstacles to the use of text messages as legal evidence.

Facebook Content Discoverable Yet Again.  It seems most, if not all, of the cases these days where discoverability of social media is at issue are being decided by courts in favor of the parties seeking to discover this information. Here’s another example.

Tune in tomorrow for more key cases of 2011 and see the topic that continues to generate more case law related to eDiscovery than any other!  Yes, I know I said that yesterday, but I forgot that topic was planned for the big finish tomorrow.  Stay tuned!

So, what do you think?  Did you miss any of these?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

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