2016: Ediscovery Year in Review

Thursday, December 15, 2016 by Thought Leadership Team

year-in-review

All good things must come to an end; even a great year in ediscovery.

As another year wraps up, we look back at a year that brought great changes to ediscovery. There is no better time than now to remember the highlights of ediscovery case law in 2016. The arrival of the FRCP amendments in December 2015 altered ediscovery practice and set new precedents. The duty to preserve, a new emphasis on proportionality and the intent to deprive dominated ediscovery judicial opinions as courts applied the new FRCP amendments.

Beyond the domination of preservation, proportionality and production, Kroll Ontrack’s analysis of 57 significant state and federal ediscovery opinions led to the classification of 4 major categories that arose most commonly in 2016 ediscovery case law. The most important of these cases are summarized in Kroll Ontrack’s guide, Top Ediscovery Cases of 2016. This guide includes the following topics and cases:

56 percent of opinions dealt with disputes involving production and the methods used, and arguments about proportionality and the scope of discovery.

  • Fulton v. Livingston Fin., 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 96825 (W.D. Wash. July 25, 2016)
  • Carr v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins., 312 F.R.D. 459 (N.D. Tex. 2015)
  • Jackson v. E-Z-Go. Div. of Textron, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 146951 (W.D. Ky. Oct. 24, 2016)
  • Gilead Scis. v. Merck, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5616 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 13, 2016)

32 percent of opinions dealt with disputes involving preservation, spoliation and motions for sanctions.

  • Orchestratehr v. Trombetta, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 51405 (N.D. Tex. Apr. 18, 2016)
  • Living Color Enters. v. New Era Aquaculture, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 39113 (S.D. Fla. Mar. 22, 2016)
  • Marten Transp. v. Plattform Adver., 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15098 (D. Kan. Feb. 8, 2016)
  • GN Netcom v. Plantronics, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 93299 (D. Del. July 12, 2016)
  • Cat3 v. Black Lineage, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3618 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 12, 2016)

4 percent of opinions addressed cost considerations, such as cost shifting and taxation of costs.

  • R. Med. Emergency Grp. v. Iglesia Episcopal Puertorriqueña, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99391 (D.P.R. July 26, 2016)
  • Elkharwily v. Franciscan Health Sys. 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99795 (W.D. Wash. July 29, 2016)

9 percent of opinions discussed procedural issues, such as search and predictive coding protocols.

  • Dynamo Holdings v. Comm’r of Internal Revenue, 2016 WL 4204067 (T.C. July 13, 2016)
  • Hyles v. New York City, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 100390 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 1, 2016)
  • Pyle v. Selective Ins. Co. of Am., 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 140789 (W.D. Pa. Sept. 30, 2016)
  • In re Viagra (Sildenafil Citrate) Prods. Liab. Litig., 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 144925 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 14, 2016)

The guide also includes a special section on International Predictive Coding, discussing the major opinions to emerge from overseas.

  • Pyrrho Investments Ltd. v. MWB property Ltd., [2016] EWHC 256 (Ch)