Amended Rules Five Months Later: Early Trends in Case Law and What It Means
What is Document Review for eDiscovery? Let’s dive into the captivating realm of Electronic Discovery (eDiscovery) document review! (No, I am not being sarcastic!) This critical stage involves examining gathered documents to...more
Justice delayed isn’t justice denied for eDiscovery case law disputes! Our July 2023 monthly webinar of cases covered by the eDiscovery Today blog discusses six disputes including custody and control of a personal Google...more
We all know that there are Federal and State rules that govern how eDiscovery is conducted, but legal professionals need examples to illustrate how the rules should be applied, and what NOT to do. This webinar will use actual...more
Two recent decisions highlight the usefulness of phased e-discovery as a tool to satisfy Rule 26(b)(1)’s ever-important proportionality requirement. It is worth noting that neither phased discovery nor proportionality are...more
As much as we hate to admit it, your mother was right. Planning ahead, adopting proactive processes, getting your tools in order, and making sure that you have a battle-tested approach for ediscovery is the best way to...more
Court notes that for discovery, Slack messages are “generally comparable” to email. A recent case out of California brings to the forefront what every organization using collaboration applications like Slack needs to take...more
Lawyers are accustomed to slow, gradual changes that unfold over months, years, or even decades. Since our legal system depends on court precedents and democratic mechanisms for regulatory and legislative change, we typically...more
Interpreting Bristol-Myers : Are Unnamed Members of Nationwide Class Actions ‘Parties’? If So, When? In 2017, the Supreme Court decided Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court of California (BMS), holding that a...more
In a consumer class action pending in California, the Ninth Circuit recently vacated a discovery order that would have forced Williams-Sonoma - prior to class certification - to identify all of its California customers who...more
Earlier this year, the Ninth Circuit held that plaintiffs cannot avail themselves of liberal discovery rules in order to locate class representatives. The court found that Rule 26(b)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil...more
On mandamus review, the Ninth Circuit recently vacated a district court order directing Defendant Williams-Sonoma to produce a list of California consumers, as the order improperly sought to aid plaintiff’s counsel in finding...more
In Jones v. Johnson, No. 18-2252 (January 9, 2020), the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals considered the discoverability of comparator information in a case involving an allegation that an employer failed to promote an employee....more
The parties to class action litigation frequently contest whether plaintiffs are entitled to pre-certification discovery aimed at identifying additional or replacement class representatives. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the...more
When you start an ediscovery project, are you explicitly asking your opponents to produce data from the collaboration application Slack? Are you looking for relevant and helpful data within your own Slack channels and...more
About a year ago, I wrote the blog “Proportionality: Tipping the Scale” spotlighting proportionality with respect to data preservation and the related amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure....more
The collaboration app Slack sounds, from its full name, like it should be designed for discovery in litigation—“Slack” is actually an acronym for “Searchable Log of All Conversation and Knowledge.” Isn’t that what we’re...more
With some electronically stored information (ESI), what you see is what you get. A simple screenshot, PDF, or TIFF image may convey all the information that a litigant needs....more
The CBCA released its FY 2018 Annual Report. Despite a statistically typical year, the report also highlighted noteworthy changes to the Board’s jurisdiction and rules. FY 2018 ended with 409 new appeals docketed at the...more
Editor's Overview - In last quarter's Newsletter, we commented that all eyes were on President Trump's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, as the outcome of the appointment process can have a significant impact on the...more
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 1 mandates a “just, speedy, and inexpensive resolution of civil disputes.” In a perfect litigation world, parties would operate in good faith, draft reasonable discovery requests, answer...more
This month marks two years since the major amendment of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(1) went into effect. This Rule, governing the scope of discovery, now states: Parties may obtain discovery regarding any...more
Last week, a federal judge presiding over a sex discrimination case ordered several members of management to search their personal email accounts and turn over all relevant information. The ruling serves as a reminder of the...more
The Sedona Conference’s recent updates to The Sedona Principles provide important guidance on how parties to litigation should handle e-discovery. In particular, the new edition of the Principles set forth best practices...more
If your practice involves discovery, chances are you have been on the receiving end (and maybe the dispensing end) of prolix boilerplate general objections in response to interrogatories or document demands. Whatever logic...more
It has been more than a year since the update to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and Judge Peck is losing patience with litigators who do not follow the “no-longer-new 2015 Amendments.” Recently, in Fischer v. Forrest,...more