150 Spear Street Associates L.P. v. VWR International, LLC et al

Filing 63

STIPULATION AND ORDER re 61 STIPULATION WITH PROPOSED ORDER Governing Discovery of Electronically Stored Information filed by VWR International, LLC. Signed by Judge Jon S. Tigar on February 16, 2018. (wsn, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 2/16/2018)

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A Professional Corporation
San Francisco

Ropers Majeski Kohn & Bentley

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N. KATHLEEN STRICKLAND (SBN 64816)
ANGELA J. YU (SBN 263212)
STEPHAN CHOO (SBN 284395)
ROPERS, MAJESKI, KOHN & BENTLEY
150 Spear Street, Suite 850
San Francisco, CA 94105
Telephone: [phone]
Facsimile: [phone]
Email:
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
BONNIE ALLYN BARNETT (appearing pro hac vice)
DRINKER BIDDLE & REATH LLP
One Logan Square, Suite 2000
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Telephone: [phone]
Facsimile: [phone]
Email:
[e-mail]
ADAM J. THURSTON (SBN 162636)
DRINKER BIDDLE & REATH LLP
1800 Century Park East, Suite 1500
Los Angeles, CA 90067
Telephone: [phone]
Facsimile: [phone]
Email:
[e-mail]
Attorneys for Defendant
VWR INTERNATIONAL, LLC

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION

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150 SPEAR STREET ASSOCIATES, L.P.,

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Plaintiff,

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v.

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VWR INTERNATIONAL, LLC; UNIVAR
USA INC.,

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CASE NO. 3:17-cv-03246-JST
STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED]
ORDER GOVERNING DISCOVERY OF
ELECTRONICALLY STORED
INFORMATION
Judge: Hon. Jon S. Tigar
Complaint Filed: June 6, 2017

Defendants.

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4828-3359-6504.4

STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED] ORDER RE ESI
3:17-CV-03246-JST

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Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(f)(3)(C), Plaintiff 150 Spear Street

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Associates, L.P. (“Plaintiff”) and Defendants VWR International, LLC and Univar USA Inc.

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(collectively, “Defendants”) (Plaintiff and Defendants collectively, the “Parties”), by and through

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their undersigned counsel, hereby stipulate and agree, subject to Court approval, to the following

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terms governing discovery of electronically stored information (“ESI”) in this case:

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1.

PURPOSE

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This Stipulated Order shall govern discovery of ESI in this case as a supplement to the
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, this Court’s Guidelines for the Discovery of Electronically

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Stored Information, and any other applicable orders and rules. The Parties desire to control and

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A Professional Corporation
San Francisco

Ropers Majeski Kohn & Bentley

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focus the production of ESI to the needs of the case to promote a “just, speedy, and inexpensive

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determination” of this action, as required under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 1.

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Absent a showing of good cause, general ESI production requests under Federal Rules of

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Civil Procedure 34 and 45, or compliance with a mandatory disclosure requirement of this Court,

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shall not include all metadata. However, the metadata fields identified in Section 5(e) below shall

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generally be included in the production if such fields exist. If during the discovery period,

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additional metadata fields are identified that would facilitate the identification or organization of

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relevant information, the Parties shall work in good faith to include those additional metadata

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fields that exist.

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2.

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The Parties are aware of the importance that the Court places on cooperation and commit

COOPERATION

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to cooperate in good faith throughout this case consistent with this Court’s Guidelines for the

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Discovery of Electronically Stored Information. A party’s meaningful compliance with this

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Stipulated Order and efforts to promote efficiency and reduce costs will be considered in cost-

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shifting determinations. For example, a party’s refusal to allow for additional metadata fields, as

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referenced above, would be evidence of noncompliance.

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3.

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The Parties have discussed their preservation obligations and needs and agree that

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preservation of potentially relevant ESI will be reasonable and proportionate. To reduce the costs
4828-3359-6504.4

PRESERVATION

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STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED] ORDER RE ESI
3:17-CV-03246-JST

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and burdens of preservation and to ensure proper ESI is preserved, the Parties agree that:
(a)

The Parties shall meet and confer regarding the appropriate types of ESI which

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they believe should be preserved and the custodians, or general job titles or descriptions of

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custodians, for whom they believe ESI should be preserved, as necessary. The Parties shall add

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or remove custodians as reasonably necessary; and

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(b)

The Parties shall meet and confer regarding the appropriate number of custodians

per party for whom ESI will be preserved, as necessary.
4.

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SEARCH TERMS

The Parties agree that in responding to an initial Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34

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San Francisco

Ropers Majeski Kohn & Bentley

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request, or earlier if appropriate, they shall meet and confer about appropriate search terms to

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search ESI in order to identify ESI that is subject to production in discovery and filter out ESI that

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is not subject to discovery.

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5.

PRODUCTION FORMATS

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The Parties agree pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34(b)(2)(E)(i), that the

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presumption is that ESI shall be produced in native format (that is, the same form that it is used or

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kept in the usual course of business) and agree to use commercially reasonable efforts to produce

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the information electronically consistent with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 1. The Parties

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further agree that emails, spreadsheets, videos, animations, audio files, and presentations that

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include video, animation, or audio shall be produced where practical in native format. To the

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extent that documents produced in native format cannot be rendered or viewed without the use of

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proprietary software, the Parties shall meet and confer to minimize any expense or burden

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associated with the review of such documents, including issues as may arise with respect to

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obtaining access to any such software or operating manuals.

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ESI not produced in native format and amenable to being imaged shall be produced as

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images on optical disks (that is, CDs or DVDs), external hard drives, or a secure File Transfer

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Protocol (FTP) site, accompanied by load files. Each image will bear a unique production

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number and any applicable confidentiality language pursuant to the Stipulated Protective Order

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governing this case. ESI produced in this manner shall be accompanied by load files with
4828-3359-6504.4

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STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED] ORDER RE ESI
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searchable text, including electronically extracted text or, if electronically extracted text is

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unavailable, OCR text, and shall include:

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(a)

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document;

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(b)

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Attachments, including information sufficient to identify the parent and child

relationships of all documents and ESI that are or have attachments;
(c)

Confidentiality, including any designation pursuant to the Stipulated Protective

(d)

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Unitization, including the production number of the first and last page of each

Source information, including the identity of the custodian, or, if none, a

Order;

generalized location; and
(e)

System metadata, namely the following fields: (1) BEGDOC; (2) ENDDOC;

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(3) BEGATTACH; (4) ENDATTACH; (5) PAGECOUNT; (6) ATTACHCOUNT;

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(7) CUSTODIAN; (8) FILENAME; (9) FILEEXT; (10) FOLDER, except that this field need not

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be produced for emails with counsel for the Parties; (11) FILESIZE; (12) AUTHOR; (13) TITLE;

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(14) CREATEDDATE; (15) CREATEDTIME; (16) LASTMODDATE; (17) LASTMODTIME;

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(18) EMAIL_FROM; (19) EMAIL_TO; (20) EMAIL_CC; (21) EMAIL_BCC;

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(22) EMAIL_SUBJECT; (23) EMAIL_DATERCVD; (24) EMAIL_TIMERCVD;

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(25) EMAIL_DATESENT; (26) EMAIL_TIMESENT; (27) DESIGNATION; and

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(28) MD5HASH.

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Paper documents amenable to being imaged shall be produced as images on optical disks

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(that is, CDs or DVDs), external hard drives, or FTP site, accompanied by load files. Paper

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documents may be produced in black-and-white or color, but if a party intends to rely in any brief

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or hearing on an aspect of a document that requires review in color, the party shall produce that

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document in color. Each image will bear a unique production number and any applicable

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confidentiality language pursuant to the Stipulated Protective Order governing this case. Paper

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documents produced in this manner will be accompanied by load files with searchable text. If a

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party desires additional information about a particular paper document produced in this form, the

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Parties shall meet and confer regarding the appropriate means to supply the additional
4828-3359-6504.4

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STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED] ORDER RE ESI
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information.

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6.

PHASING

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When a party propounds discovery requests pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure

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34, the Parties agree to phase the production of ESI. Following the Court’s entry of an order on

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this Stipulation, the Parties shall continue to prioritize the order of subsequent productions.

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7.

DOCUMENTS PROTECTED FROM DISCOVERY

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Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d), the production of a privileged and/or workproduct-protected document, whether inadvertent or otherwise, is not a waiver of privilege and/or

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protection from discovery in this case or in any other federal or state proceeding. For example,

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San Francisco

Ropers Majeski Kohn & Bentley

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the mere production of privileged and/or work-product-protected documents in this case as part of

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a mass production is not itself a waiver in this case or in any other federal or state proceeding.

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The Parties agree that privileged and/or work-product-protected communication to or from trial

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counsel post-dating the filing of the Complaint need not be placed on a privilege log.

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8.

MODIFICATION

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This Stipulated Order may be modified by a stipulated order of the Parties or by the Court

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for good cause shown.

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IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD.

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4828-3359-6504.4

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STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED] ORDER RE ESI
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Dated: February 15, 2018

ROPERS, MAJESKI, KOHN & BENTLEY

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By: /s/ N. Kathleen Strickland
N. KATHLEEN STRICKLAND
ANGELA J. YU
STEPHAN CHOO
Attorneys for Defendant
VWR INTERNATIONAL, LLC

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Dated: February 15, 2018

DRINKER BIDDLE & REATH LLP

By: /s/ Bonnie Barnett
BONNIE ALLYN BARNETT
ADAM J. THURSTON
Attorneys for Defendant
VWR INTERNATIONAL, LLC

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A Professional Corporation
San Francisco

Ropers Majeski Kohn & Bentley

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Dated: February 15, 2018

VERIS LAW GROUP PLLC

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By: /s/ Michelle Rosenthal
MICHELLE ROSENTHAL
GREGORY HIXSON
Attorneys for Defendant
UNIVAR USA INC.

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Dated: February 15, 2018

NIXON PEABODY LLP

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By: /s/ Jennifer Kuenster
JENNIFER KUENSTER
ANTHONY BARRON
MATTHEW RICHARDS
Attorneys for Defendant
UNIVAR USA INC.

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Dated: February 15, 2018

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PILLSBURY WINTHROP SHAW PITTMAN
LLP

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By: /s/ Philip S. Warden
PHILIP S. WARDEN
VIJAY K. TOKE
Attorneys for Plaintiff
150 SPEAR STREET ASSOCIATES,
L.P.

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4828-3359-6504.4

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STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED] ORDER RE ESI
3:17-CV-03246-JST

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[PROPOSED] ORDER
PURSUANT TO STIPULATION, IT IS SO ORDERED.

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DATED:

February 16, 2018
HONORABLE JON S. TIGAR
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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A Professional Corporation
San Francisco

Ropers Majeski Kohn & Bentley

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4828-3359-6504.4

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STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED] ORDER RE ESI
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