Document review often is the most expensive component of discovery in large, complex cases. Wouldn’t it be great if you could shift that cost to the party that requested the documents, along with the burden of performing the tedious, time-consuming review? Well, maybe you can. A federal magistrate judge in the N.D. Florida recently did exactly that.
In FDIC v. Brudnicki, No. 5:12-cv-00398, 2013 WL 2948098 (June 14, 2013) , the FDIC, as receiver for a bank, sued eight of the bank’s former directors, including one officer. The defendants moved to compel documents from the FDIC and sought sanctions against the FDIC “for delaying discovery.” Id. at *3. The FDIC had “agreed to produce responsive documents under a proposed protocol.” Id. at *4. The court observed, however: “The parties sharply disagree on the method of production and the ESI protocol.” Id.
Continue Reading Shifting the Burden and Cost of Reviewing Voluminous ESI to Opposing Parties