Freeman v. Deebs-Elkenaney

Background

Lynne Freeman moved to compel Emily Sylvan Kim and Prospect Agency, LLC, referred to together as the Prospect Defendants, to produce native versions of Word and WordPerfect documents that they had already produced. Freeman’s discovery request sought documents in native format with metadata, including document text, file and custodian names, dates, sender and recipient information, and a load file.

The Prospect Defendants produced PDF files of emails and word-processing documents, together with metadata load files. They argued that the load files provided the requested metadata. Freeman maintained that the PDFs were missing requested metadata, but the opinion states that she did not acknowledge the metadata load files.

Court’s Analysis

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34 allows a party to specify the form in which electronically stored information must be produced, but the responding party does not necessarily have to use that exact form. The court explained that electronically searchable information should not be produced in a way that removes or significantly reduces its searchability.

The court found that the Prospect Defendants’ PDFs preserved search functionality and that the accompanying load files provided the requisite metadata. Freeman’s request for native versions and an accompanying load file was duplicative because it sought metadata in more than one form. The court also concluded that any potential value from additional metadata information in native documents was outweighed by the cost and burden of producing it.

Ruling

Judge Sarah Netburn denied Freeman’s motion to compel native formats of the Word and WordPerfect documents. The court stated that Freeman may renew her application if she can demonstrate that the requested metadata load files that were produced excluded material evidence. The Clerk of Court was requested to terminate the motion at ECF No. 173.

Note on the Judge

The supplied case information identifies Colleen McMahon as the judge, but the opinion is signed by Sarah Netburn, United States Magistrate Judge. This summary uses the judge named and signing the opinion.