US Case Law Update: Failing to suspend routine document retention process leads to sanctions

December 15, 2021

In a recent case from the United States, the failure to properly implement a legal hold led to a motion for spoliation sanctions.

In Mahboob v. Educ. Credit Mgmt. Corp., Case No.: 15-cv-0628-TWR-AGS (S.D. Cal. Mar. 1, 2021), the plaintiff alleged that the defendant failed to suspend its two-year document retention policy, which resulted in the loss of months of relevant call data and recordings. Countering, the defendant argued that the plaintiff’s motion should be denied due to unreasonable delay.

In the result, the Magistrate Judge granted the plaintiff’s motion for spoliation sanctions, in part. … Read More

To what Extent do Lawyers need to Supervise Document Disclosure?

Vladyslav (Vlad) Strashko

Associate

November 8, 2021

In 2020, several US court decisions dealt with lawyers who failed to properly supervise the discovery process, for example by allowing their clients to “self-collect” records (see Equal Emp’t Opportunity Comm’n v. M1 5100 Corp., Civil No. 19-cv-81320-DIMITROULEAS/MATTHEWMAN (S.D. Fla. Jul. 2, 2020)) or not taking reasonable effort to ensure that the client produced all required documents (see Optronic Techs. v. Ningbo Sunny Elec. Co., Case No. 16-cv-06370-EJD (VKD) (N.D. Cal. Jun. 1, 2020)).

In the first example, the lawyer received a warning from the judge, but escaped sanctions because the discovery process was not yet complete. … Read More

eDiscovery Issues: Spoliation and Intent

Harry Chang

Associate

October 28, 2021

In a recent US decision, Cretacci v. Hare, No.: 4:19-CV-55-SKL (E.D. Tenn. Jan. 20, 2021), the court found that the plaintiffs failed to prove that the defendants intentionally deprived them of the video evidence of an alleged assault as required under Rule 37 of the United States Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The defendants had received a written request to preserve the video evidence from the plaintiff’s counsel within 30 days of an alleged assault but took no reasonable measures to preserve the requested video, and the video was later deleted.… Read More

Discovery in the Yukon

Vladyslav (Vlad) Strashko

Associate

October 20, 2021

A recent decision, Chance Oil and Gas Limited v Yukon (Energy, Mines and Resources), 2021 YKSC 44 (CanLII) , provides a good window into the discovery process in the Yukon.

In this case, both sides filed applications to compel each other to meet their document discovery obligations. The plaintiff claimed that the defendant grossly under-produced by listing only 445 documents in its affidavit of documents. The defendant alleged that the plaintiff, in contrast, overproduced by listing over 34,000 documents, some of which were not relevant.

First, the court pointed that the expression “every document relating to any matter in issue in an action” relating to disclosure obligations in Rule 25 of the Rules of Court has been given a broad and liberal interpretation by the courts.… Read More

Is a De-activated Social Media Account Producible?

Harry Chang

Associate

October 6, 2021

The recent US decision in Brown v. SSA Atl., LLC, CV419-303 (S.D. Ga. Mar. 15, 2021) emphasizes the importance of understanding what constitutes spoliation in the context of social media evidence.

The plaintiff in this case was evasive about his social media presence on Facebook. The defendant initiated a motion for sanctions for “alleged spoliation of electronically stored evidence, specifically his social media accounts.” The court denied the spoliation motion ruling based on the lack of evidence that the Facebook information had been “irretrievably lost.” Instead of sanctions, the court directed the production of the Facebook accounts as an alternative remedy.… Read More

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