Legal Updates

  • Man in a suit holding a book titled "Civil Procedure Rules"
    Legal Updates

    We Hold These Rules to Be Self-Evident: Document Review, Relevance, and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure

    Sometimes, an argument or position may seem so self-evident or apparent that parties proceed on the assumption that it is correct without ever actually litigating the issue. Should a party decide to contest the issue, however, it can be difficult to find authority in support of the proposition. Such was the case in a recent decision involving an ESI protocol issued by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in United States ex rel. M. Frank Higgins & Co. v. Dobco, Inc., No. 22-cv-9599, 2023 WL 5302371 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 17, 2023).  The parties there disagreed as to how searches for ESI should be conducted. The Court, in resolving their dispute, examined the parties' obligations to produce ESI under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 26 and 34. 

  • Picture of a monitor showing four video feeds from security cameras beside a security camera that has a red light to indicate it is recording.
    Legal Updates

    When The Timing of Your Spoliation Motion Can Be As Important As Its Substance

    A motion for an adverse inference was denied in Pratt v. Robbins, et al. where Defendants failed to preserve or produce a video that might have contained pivotal evidence going to the heart Plaintiff’s civil rights claim for excessive force.  Plaintiff argued that Defendants spoliated evidence by failing to produce the video footage that may have recorded the use of force at issue.   A party seeking spoliation sanctions bears the burden of proving all of the elements of Rule 37(e), and under Fourth Circuit precedent is generally held to a clear and convincing standard. Plaintiff’s decision to suddenly cry foul on the eve of trial did not go over well with the Court.

  • Wiretapping
    Legal Updates

    PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM . . . BUT WAIT – WHAT IS HE PLAYING, AND WHO IS SAM?: Website Session Replay Software and Wiretapping

    The trend of class action cases alleging wiretap statute violations against website operators for the use of session replay software to collect information of website users continues to be a concern for companies in 2024.  While many of these cases have turned on whether website operators disclosed and obtained consent from website users prior to deploying any session replay software, a recent decision in a pending class action brought under the Pennsylvania Wiretap Act indicates that consent alone may not be the end of the story in these cases.

  • Creative thinking
    Legal Updates

    Utilizing E-Discovery Tools in Innovative Ways

    As part of the e-discovery process, we use digital means to identify relevant information for use in a legal proceeding. The proceeding may be a large-scale medical malpractice lawsuit, a patent infringement case, a government investigation, or countless other legal actions. However, the skills and resources used in those types of matters can also be used in other areas.

  • Danger
    Legal Updates

    The Pitfalls of Negotiated Preliminary Injunction Orders

    Sunlight Financial L.L.C. v. Hinkle, et al., 2022 WL 17487686 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 7, 2022) highlights the importance of negotiating strong stipulation orders that protect your client's interests. In this case, the Stipulated Amended Preliminary Injunction Order was overly broad and failed to carve out information that the defense believed to be the confidential, proprietary, or trade secret information of third parties. As a result, the corporate defendant was required to produce documents for forensic examination that had questionable relevance to the specific allegations of the Plaintiff and exposed the defendant to potential future litigation.

  • ChatGPT
    Legal Updates

    ChatGPT and E-Discovery: Match Made in Heaven or Rocky Roads Ahead?

    New technologies are being created and utilized every year. The most significant developments lately are the rise of chatbots - software applications that allow for online chat conversation via text or text-to-speech, without any direct contact with a human operator. Currently, the chatbot garnering the most attention is OpenAI’s ChatGPT program. This article will focus on this technology and how it works either for or against the E-Discovery review process.