Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Notable E-Discovery Costs Decision by Third Circuit Court of Appeals (Judge Vanaskie)

In a March 16, 2012 Opinion written by Judge Thomas I. Vanaskie, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals addressed a Defendant's request submitted to a Plaintiff for the payment of costs associated with e-discovery in the case of Race Tires America, Inc. v. Hoosier Racing Tire Corp., No. 11-2316 (3d. Cir. March 16, 2012 Sloviter, Vanaskie, Stengel, JJ.)(Opinion by Vanaskie, J.).

In this case, the Court addressed the novel issue of what costs associated with the collection, processing, and production of electronically stored information (ESI) was taxable against a losing party in a civil litigation matter.  Ih this matter, the defense was requesting the Plaintiffs to pay in the range of $365,000 for such costs apparently originating from the utilization of a vendor to collect and disseminate the ESI.

In the end, the Court ruled that the costs claimed in this matter should be drastically slashed.  Judge Vanaskie wrote that essentially only scanning and file format conversions were the type of activities (amounting to only $30,000 of the stated amount) were recoverable.

Anyone wishing to review this important e-discovery Opinion written by Judge Vanaskie for the Race Tires America, Inc. case, which provides detailed guidance on the issue, can click here.

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