Heuristica Writes eDiscovery Series for Canada’s Construction Industry

Heuristica is pleased to author a ten part series of articles about eDiscovery for ConstructCanada, the authoritative voice of Canada’s construction industry.

The articles explore practical tools and strategies to proactively manage costs and effectively navigate through the eDiscovery process for litigation, internal investigations, and regulatory matters. The series will be published each week in both the Daily Commercial News and the Journal of Commerce.

The articles provide practical tips on document management, data mapping, discovery planning, custodian interviews, document processing and hosting, eDiscovery technology, and explores proposed arbitration rules and alternative dispute resolution.

Article One: eDiscovery preparedness – Document Management Systems, Part 1

October 8, 2020

Candice Chan-Glasgow, Director of Review Services and Counsel

An initial step for any construction company looking to proactively manage costs through the eDiscovery process is to re-examine its document management system (DMS).… Read More

U.S. Court Shifts eDiscovery Costs to Plaintiff

Candice Chan-Glasgow, Director, Review Services and Counsel

August 28, 2020

In a rare cost shifting order out of the United States, Lawson v. Spirit Aerosystems (D. Kan. June 18, 2020), the Kansas District Court granted defendant, Spirit Aerosystems, Inc’s motion to shift the costs of a technology-assisted review to the plaintiff, Larry A. Lawson. This case is a helpful reminder to litigants that the eDiscovery process must be proportionate to the needs of the case and that pursuing unnecessarily broad requests can lead to cost consequences.

Lawson is Spirit’s former CEO who retired on July 31, 2016. … Read More

Court of Appeal Weighs-in on Relevance and Privilege

Candice Chan-Glasgow, Director, Review Services and Counsel

August 20, 2020

A recent Court of Appeal of Alberta decision, Tolton v Tolton, 2020 ABCA 218, provides a helpful reminder on the law of relevance and waiver of privilege.

Betty Tolton and Elwood Tolton separated in 1990, and Betty filed for divorce in 2002. The Toltons entered into minutes of settlement in 2007 which contained a provision indicating that Elwood was required to disclose further information related to a dispute about certain assets and accounts receivable. In 2008, Betty filed an application seeking disclosure of the items listed in the minutes of settlement. … Read More

Meaningful Disclosure

Candice Chan-Glasgow, Director, Review Services and Counsel

August 7, 2020

In a decision released last month, R. v. Cuffie, 2020 ONSC 4488 (CanLII), the Ontario Superior Court of Justice considered whether the Crown’s disclosure of non-searchable PDFs constitutes “meaningful” disclosure.

The Crown provided disclosure in nine tranches, and each tranche of disclosure was accompanied by a spreadsheet which functioned as a table of contents. The spreadsheet listed the file name of every item disclosed, the folder in which the file was located, and the date the item was disclosed. Approximately 7,000 “written documents” (over 318,600 pages) were disclosed, in addition to over 9,000 audio files, videos, and photographs. … Read More

Virtual Hearings – Here to Stay?

Candice Chan-Glasgow, Director, Review Services and Counsel

July 24, 2020

On July 6, 2020, courtrooms in certain locations across Ontario resumed in-person proceedings, and each week, additional courtrooms across the province are continuing to re-open.

However, Chief Justice Morawetz’s July 21, 2020 Notice to the Profession recognizes that not all participants may be comfortable attending a courthouse during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that virtual hearings should be explored when requested.

Counsel and parties facing a request for a virtual hearing should consider Justice Myers’ recent order that an examination for discovery proceed by video conference. Justice Myers wrote in Arconti v.… Read More