Wilson v. Conair Corporation

Filing 62

ORDER regarding stipulation for production of certain emails by Conair. Order signed by Magistrate Judge Stanley A. Boone on 8/27/2015. (Rooney, M)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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DELIA WILSON, on Behalf of Herself and
All Others Similarly Situated,

Case No: 1:14-cv-00894-WBS-SAB
CLASS ACTION

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Plaintiff,

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v.
CONAIR CORPORATION,

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ORDER REGARDING
STIPULATION FOR PRODUCTION
OF CERTAIN EMAILS BY CONAIR

Defendant.

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It is stipulated that absent further agreement of the parties or further order of the Court,

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the following provisions shall govern the production of electronic mail records (“Emails”).

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I.

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RELEVANT EMAIL
PRODUCTION

SOURCES

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Conair has identified Wayne Dieterle and Vito Carlucci as custodians (“Custodians”)

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who are likely to have relevant Emails responsive to the Requests for Production of

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Documents propounded by Plaintiff (with the exception of RFP #18 regarding complaints).

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The parties agree that it is reasonable and appropriate to limit the scope of the Email search,

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review and production at this point in time to these Custodians. Nothing herein shall be

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deemed to limit any party’s right to request Emails from additional custodians or to object to

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or limit discovery requests, including any requests for Emails. Further, nothing herein shall

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absolve the parties from fulfilling their ongoing duty to supplement in the event additional

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FOR

REVIEW

AND

POTENTIAL

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custodians are identified. Conair will comply with its obligations to preserve all other Emails

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and electronically stored information, not limited to the Custodians.

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II.

EMAIL COLLECTION, PROCESSING, REVIEW AND PRODUCTION

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A.

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Without restricting the freedom to use reasonable alternative methods including

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Custodian self-collection, Conair will utilize the following methods for the collection and

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production of Emails in fulfillment of its production obligations. Conair has agreed that it will

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take reasonable steps to collect Emails (defined as electronic message attendant system header

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information, including text and file attachments that are reasonably accessible) sent, created,

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authored, received, forwarded or modified between June 1, 2008 and June 30, 2015, for the

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agreed upon Custodians, from the Email systems and network storage locations utilized by the

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Custodians to the extent such Emails are available and accessible. Plaintiff reserves her right

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to request Conair to search additional terms, custodians and time periods. Plaintiff explicitly

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reserves her right to seek emails from 2005 to 2008 and Conair reserves all objections.

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Notwithstanding the aforementioned language, nothing herein is intended to obviate or

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diminish the parties’ legal obligation to preserve Emails reasonably expected to contain

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potentially relevant information.

Scope

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B.

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In general, email processing, review, and production will include, but are not limited

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to: (1) loading Emails into a review platform selected by Conair; (2) culling using filters based

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upon file creation or modification or message dates, key word searching, and deduplication of

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identical files; (3) review for responsiveness and privilege; and (4) production of responsive,

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non-privileged Emails. Conair does not have an obligation to review Emails that are not

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responsive to plaintiff’s discovery requests; nor is Conair prevented from doing so.

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Email Processing, Culling and Review Methodology

The parties have met and conferred and agreed on the following key terms to be used
for Email searches:
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CD87*
LM81*
“SPT-1* ”

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“SPT1*”
“20AWG*”
“20 AWG*”
“2x20AWG*”
“AWG #20*”
“AWG#20*”
“AWG20*”
(“20” OR “twenty”) AND “gauge”
((“stress” OR “strain”) AND (“relief” OR “release”))
Bushing
Blew up
Blow up
Circuit*
Crackl*
Explo*
pop*
SC-3G*
“short” AND “circuit*”
“Spark*”
“shock*”
“Delia” AND “Wilson”
“fire*”
“flam*”
“flar*”
“burn*”
“PVC”
“polyvinyl chloride”
“conductor*”
“insulat*”
((“line*” OR “cord*” OR “wire*”) AND (“expose*))”
((“line*” OR “cord*” OR “wire*”) AND )“arc*”))
((“line*” OR “cord*” OR “wire*”) AND (“break*”))
((“line*” OR “cord*” OR “wire*”) AND (“brittle*”))
((“line*” OR “cord*” OR “wire*”) AND (“crack*”))
((“line*” OR “cord*” OR “wire*”) AND (“cure*”))
((“line*” OR “cord*” OR “wire*”) AND (“split*”))
((“line*” OR “cord*” OR “wire*”) AND (“rupture*”))
((“line*” OR “cord*” OR “wire*”) AND (“defect*”))
((“line*” OR “cord*” OR “wire*”) AND (“fail*”))
((“line*” OR “cord*” OR “wire*”) AND (“malfunc*”))
((“line*” OR “cord*” OR “wire*”) AND (“melt*”))
((“line*” OR “cord*” OR “wire*”) AND (“overheat*”))
((“line*” OR “cord*” OR “wire*”) AND (“problem*”))
((“line*” OR “cord*” OR “wire*”) AND (“short*”))

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((“line*” OR “cord*” OR “wire*”) AND (“stress*” or “strain*”))
((“line*” OR “cord*” OR “wire*” OR “CD87*”) AND (“Gold Edge”))
((“line*” OR “cord*” OR “wire*” OR “CD87*”) AND (“HRSCMC”))
((“line*” OR “cord*” OR “wire*” OR “CD87*”) AND (“Luen
Ming”))
((“line*” OR “cord*” OR “wire*” OR “CD87*”) AND (“Millplan”))
((“line*” OR “cord*” OR “wire*” OR “CD87*”) AND (“SureSource” OR
“Brandshop”))
((“line*” OR “cord*” OR “wire*” OR “CD87*”) AND (“UL” or “Underwriters
Laboratories”))
((“malfunc*” OR “event*” OR “fail*” OR “fault*” OR “prob* OR “arc*”)
AND (“electr*”))
(“consumer” OR “customer”) AND “complain*”
CD10
CD80
CD81
CD86
CD89
CD96
CD301
CD302
CD303
BC40
BC37
BC100
BC84
BC86
BC10
CS4V
CS4
CS56
CS70
Plasticizer

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The parties reserve their right to modify any key words agreed upon to refine the

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searches and improve precision in identifying relevant and discoverable documents, along with

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adding further terms that are reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible

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evidence. In the event Conair determines in good faith that modifications are required due to

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the production being unduly burdensome, counsel will meet and confer in an effort to agree

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upon modifications. In the event Plaintiff determines in good faith that additional terms are

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required, counsel will meet and confer in an effort to agree upon any proposed additions. If

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the parties cannot agree on key words, either party may seek relief from the Court. Further,

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nothing herein shall absolve the parties from fulfilling their ongoing duty to supplement

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discovery by running newly identified search terms that will collect information responsive to

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discovery. Nothing herein shall be deemed to limit Conair’s ongoing obligation under FRCP

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Rule 26 to supplement its production with new responsive emails in a timely manner.

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C.

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Reasonable efforts for deduplication will be performed across all Custodians and all

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population of documents sometimes referred to as “Global Deduplication.” The producing

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party will provide a single Custodian field that indicates the Custodian(s) or source(s)

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Deduplication

associated with the document.

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D.

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The parties have agreed that, with the exception of documents to be produced in native

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format, documents shall be produced in Tagged Image Format image files (“TIFF”) named

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with sequential Bates numbering with each page branded with sequential bates numbering.

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Documents produced in native format will also be produced in a static format (either PDF or

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TIFF). Any documents identified as “CONFIDENTIAL” in accordance with the parties’

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Stipulated Protective Order [Docket #28] shall be marked.

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presentations, and multimedia (i.e., audio and video) files shall be produced in native file

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format named with sequential Bates numbering, except where image format is required for

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purposes of redaction.

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placeholder with bates numbers shall be provided. Each production shall be accompanied by a

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corresponding electronic delimited text file using Relativity standard delimiters (“Relativity

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DAT files”), OPT and/or LFP image load files, and separate text files containing each

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document’s extracted text or text generated through Optical Character Recognition (“OCR”).

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OCR text will only be provided for documents with redactions or documents that are hard

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copy in origin, but all other text will be extracted text. No Emails shall be wholly or partially

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redacted, including any Email sender and/or recipient identifier information, unless such

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information is deemed privileged and logged as required in Section III, infra.

Format of Production

Spreadsheets, PowerPoint

For all documents produced in native format, a single-paged

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III.

DOCUMENTS PROTECTED FROM DISCOVERY

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A.

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Nothing herein shall be deemed to waive or limit any applicable privilege or work

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product or other protection (including trade secret) or to affect the ability of a party to seek

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relief for the disclosure of information protected by privilege, work product protection, and

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trade secret information. If a party produces information that it later discovers, or in good faith

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later asserts, to be privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure, the production of that

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information will not be presumed to constitute a waiver of any applicable privileges or other

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protection. In such circumstances, the producing party must promptly notify in writing the

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other party to this action upon discovery of the production and the basis for the privilege or

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other protection, and request in writing the return of and confirmed destruction of all copies of

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the produced privileged or protected information.

Non-Waiver of Protected Information

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Upon such notification, the parties shall treat the information as privileged or protected

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unless and until the parties agree otherwise or the Court determines the information is not

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privileged or protected. Within ten (10) business days of receiving such notification, all

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receiving parties shall (a) return the information, including all later created excerpts,

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summaries, compilations, and other documents or records that include, communicate or reveal

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the information claimed to be privileged or protected, to the producing party; or (b) confirm in

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writing to the producing party the destruction of all such information, including all later

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created excerpts, summaries, compilations, and other documents or records that include,

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communicate or reveal the information claimed to be privileged or protected, or (c) notify the

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producing party in writing of the basis for its disagreement that such information is privileged

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or protected from disclosure. In the latter event only, the receiving party may retain the

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information asserted to be privileged for the sole purpose of responding to a motion by the

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producing party to deem the information privileged or protected from disclosure and shall

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comply with (a) or (b) above with respect to all other copies of such information and all other

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documents or records that include, communicate or reveal information claimed to be

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privileged or protected.

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Should the parties be unable to agree on whether the information is privileged or

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protected, the producing party shall be required to file a motion with the Court within (10) ten

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business days of its receipt of the receiving party’s notice of disagreement under (c) above, to

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deem the matter privileged or protected and to obtain the return of any copy of such matter still

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held by the receiving party.

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B.

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Attorney-client communications to and from email domains identified with outside

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counsel for either party of this litigation from the date this action was filed to the present is

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presumed privileged and need not be entered on a privilege log. Otherwise, Emails withheld

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on the basis of privilege must be individually identified on a privilege log which includes for

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each communication or portion withheld (i) date the document or email was written; (ii) the

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identity and position of its author; (iii) the identity and position of all addressees and

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recipients; (iv) the general nature of the document (without disclosing its contents); and (v) the

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privilege asserted. If only a portion of an email string or document is privileged, the remainder

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of the email must be produced in redacted form, with the withheld portions of the email string

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or document listed in the privilege log. If attachments to an email are withheld on the basis of

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privilege, the attachments must be listed on the privilege log.

Log of Protected Information Withheld from Production

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C.

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Conair is only required to produce Emails that are relevant to this litigation and are

Relevant and Responsive Emails

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responsive to a proper Request for Production of Documents.

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IV.

ADDITIONAL ISSUES

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A.

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On-site inspections of Email shall not be permitted, except on mutual agreement of the

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parties or upon ruling of the Court following a showing of exceptional circumstances including

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good cause and specific need.

On-Site Inspections

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B.

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Nothing in this order shall prohibit the following actions taken in the ordinary course

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of business: (1) routine maintenance, operation, or replacement of computer systems or

Continued Operation of Systems

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equipment; and (2) upgrading, loading, reprogramming, customizing, or migrating software,

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even if such actions modify or alter the way in which Email is maintained, stored, or viewed,

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provided the integrity of the original Email is reasonably maintained.

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C.

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Absent compelling circumstances and upon notice by a requesting party to a producing

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party, any message, attachment or other electronically stored information that has been

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identified by a spam or virus filter shall be treated as non-responsive and a party shall not be

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required to preserve or produce such Email.

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Spam and/or Virus Filtering

D.

Relief from the Court

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If the parties are unable to agree on a matter set forth in this Stipulation and Order;

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need further clarification on any issue relating to the preservation, collection or production of

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electronically stored information; or require modification of this Order any party may seek

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appropriate relief from the Court.

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Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the stipulation of the parties is the order
of the Court.

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IT IS SO ORDERED.

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Dated:

August 27, 2015
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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