Our Insights on eDiscovery

It’s Draft Day! What Skills Does Your eDiscovery Quarterback Need?: eDiscovery Best Practices

April 30, 2015

If you’re a fan of a pro football team, you’ve been waiting months to see what players your favorite team will be drafting. That wait ends tonight as the annual NFL draft kicks off. When it comes to selecting football players, the most important player is the quarterback. Like a football team, every litigation team navigating the discovery process needs a good “quarterback”. What skills does your eDiscovery “quarterback” need? Let’s take a look.

This Guy Says that Computers Could Eventually Replace Lawyers – In the Courtroom: eDiscovery Trends

April 29, 2015

Over four years ago, we covered an article in The New York Times that discussed how the use of artificial intelligence could lead to replacing “armies of expensive lawyers” during the eDiscovery process. Now, a new article in The Wall Street Journal online goes a step further, speculating that “computers will eventually pass the legal bar exam and defendants will be given the right to be represented by a computational attorney if they so wish”.

“How Much Will it Cost?” is Not Necessarily the Right Question to Ask: eDiscovery Best Practices

April 28, 2015

By far, the most important (and, therefore, the most asked) question asked of eDiscovery providers is “How much will it cost?”. Actually, you should be asking a few questions to get that answer – if they are the right questions, you can actually get the answer you seek.

Denial of Motion for Spoliation Sanctions Leaves Plaintiff Less Than Glad: eDiscovery Case Law

April 27, 2015

In Gladue v. Saint Francis Medical Center, Missouri District Judge Carol E. Jackson denied the plaintiff’s motion for evidentiary and monetary sanctions due to spoliation of evidence, finding that the defendant did not have a duty to preserve emails deleted as part of routine IT operations, had diligently attempted to recover deleted emails and that the plaintiff failed to show that any of the unrecovered emails were relevant to her claims.

Dispute Over Ownership of Social Media Accounts Lands Former Business Owner in Jail: eDiscovery Trends

April 24, 2015

I don’t get to cover a story very often that originates from my hometown paper, the Houston Chronicle, but here is an interesting story about a former gun store owner being jailed for refusing to turn over the passwords to the social media accounts that used to be associated with his business.

How Blue Was My Valley? Not Blue Enough to Cite the Defendant for Discovery Violations: eDiscovery Case Law

April 23, 2015

In Malone v. Kantner Ingredients, Nebraska Magistrate Judge Cheryl R. Zwart denied the plaintiffs’ motion to show cause, finding that the defendant “the plaintiffs have presented no evidence” that the defendant “destroyed, hid, or purposefully (or even recklessly) failed to produce responsive ESI” in the case.

Almost Thirty Percent of Data Security Incidents are Due to Human Error: eDiscovery Trends

April 22, 2015

Last year, the term “data breach” became part of the broader public vernacular with The New York Times devoting more than 700 articles related to data breaches, versus fewer than 125 the previous year. And, as we’ve discussed recently, data breaches are on the rise. However, according to a new report, almost thirty percent of data security incidents are due to human error.

Discarding a Relevant Computer Results in Adverse Inference Sanctions, Not Default Judgment: eDiscovery Case Law

April 21, 2015

In Grady v. Brodersen, Colorado Magistrate Judge Nina Y. Wang granted the plaintiff’s motion for sanctions against the defendant in part for failing to produce a computer that the defendant ultimately acknowledged that he discarded, but denied the plaintiff’s request for a default judgment sanction, opting for the less severe adverse inference instruction sanction.

Sometimes You May Need Turn to 34 Year Old Technology to Get the Job Done: eDiscovery Best Practices

April 20, 2015

If you’ve worked with computers for over three decades like I have, you remember some of the old ways we used computers to support litigation. Our colleague, Jane Gennarelli, covered some of those in her recent “Throwback Thursdays” series. But, a 34 year old software application can still be useful today.

Court Rules that Automatically Generated Read Receipt is Not Hearsay: eDiscovery Case Law

April 17, 2015

In Fox v. Leland Volunteer Fire/Rescue Dep’t Inc., North Carolina District Judge Louise W. Flanagan ruled that a Read Receipt automatically sent from the defendant’s email address to the plaintiff (when the defendant opened an email sent by the plaintiff) was not hearsay.