Heuristica Speaks at Privacy and Data Governance Conference

Crystal O’Donnell, Heuristica’s Chief Executive Officer and Senior Counsel, will speak at the National Privacy and Data Governance Congress in Calgary on April 6, 2017.

Organized by the Privacy and Access Council of Canada (PACC) the 2017 Annual Congress is entitled “A World of Change“. The three-day event running April 5th to 7th provides attendees an opportunity to explore leading issues at the crossroads of privacy, access, security, law and technology and to network with peers and colleagues from industry and government.

Crystal will speak about Balancing Proportionality and Privacy Protection in eDiscovery. For more information about what her session will include please read the abstract.… Read More

Failure to Preserve Results in Costly Review of Backup Tapes

“This litigation has been exceptional in its breadth, venom and expenses.” – Justice Turnbull

In Verge Insurance Brokers v. Richard Sherk et al., 2016 ONSC 4007, the defendants brought a motion seeking an order compelling the plaintiff to produce and review 66 backup tapes. The plaintiff objected on the grounds of proportionality and provided evidence that the exercise would cost an estimated $300,000.

Justice Turnbull ordered the plaintiff to restore and review the 66 backup tapes, despite the estimated cost of at least $300,000. Turnbull J., recognizing the exceptional cost, also made the point that had the plaintiff complied with an earlier order of the court, and properly preserved the relevant information, the motion would not have been necessary.… Read More

Collaborative Discovery Required

In Thompson v Arcadia Labs Inc, the plaintiffs brought a motion for relief requesting, among other things, several orders related to discovery. The plaintiffs are consultants that provided services to the defendant cybersecurity firm.

The parties did not agree on a protocol for exchanging documents, which resulted in unilateral attempts to satisfy production obligations. Master MacLeod, as he then was, (Master MacLeod was recently appointed a judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice) found that parties cannot take a unilateral approach to production and that cooperation is critical for defensibility and proportionality.

During the course of their business relationship, the plaintiffs created documents for the defendants, which were uploaded to a website.… Read More

Court Orders Production of Files in “Usable” Format

On May 24^th, the Alberta Court of the Queen’s Bench ruled that, in certain circumstances, meaningful disclosure requires the production of native electronic files.

Background and Arguments

In Bard v Canadian Natural Resources,[1] the plaintiffs brought a motion requesting, amongst other things, that the court order the defendants to deliver native Excel spreadsheets. The defendant had provided the data in TIFF image files as agreed to by the parties in the discovery plan. The plaintiffs claimed that TIFFs were not a “usable” format.