In EEOC v. GEM Management, LLC, the EEOC’s persistent pursuit of discovery led to a substantially granted motion to compel. The court criticized GEM’s ESI search methodology, custodial self-collection, form of production, Bates numbering, and incomplete interrogatory responses.
In Medal v. Amazon, a federal court refused to enter a Rule 502(d) clawback order without party agreement and declined to require production of responsive documents not captured by search terms. Michael Berman respectfully disagrees on both counts, drawing on legislative history, advisory committee notes, and circuit authority.
A federal court rejected a blanket right to hit reports, holding they may be denied when search terms are facially overbroad and disproportionate.
In Glaxosmithkline v. Pfizer, the Special Master denied a motion to compel, holding that no deadline existed for proposing additional search terms since the ESI Protocol set no milestone.
The Lively v. Wayfarer Studios case continues to raise key eDiscovery issues, with the latest ruling mandating production of Signal messages and search terms, while dismissing reciprocal demands as unfounded.
In HET MCPS v. AutoFlex, the court granted a motion for forensic imaging of devices, but key questions remain about post-imaging data handling, including privilege, relevance, and production protocols. The case underscores evolving challenges in managing electronically stored information in litigation.
In Andersen v. Stability AI Ltd., the court emphasized that ESI Protocols must be specific to be effective, especially in complex GenAI copyright disputes. The ruling highlights the risks of unresolved ESI disagreements and judicial discretion in imposing discovery terms.
A federal court in Tremblay v. OpenAI reaffirmed that requesting parties lack the right to control the producing party’s search term formulation, emphasizing Sedona Principles 6 and 7 and the necessity of cooperation in eDiscovery.
October 2024 saw significant court rulings on e-discovery issues, including spoliation sanctions for lost text messages, search term disputes in antitrust litigation, and privilege claim procedures under Rule 26(b)(5)(B).
This update covers September's key e-discovery developments, focusing on court decisions addressing negotiations over ESI search terms, standards for metadata production, discovery of litigation hold information, and sanctions for ESI spoliation.