Signazon v. Nickelson

Filing 12

Judge Richard G. Stearns: ORDER entered granting 3 Motion for TRO (Zierk, Marsha)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS
CIVIL ACTION NO. 13-11190
SIGNAZON CORPORATION
v.
CRAIG NICKELSON d/b/a ebuysigns.com
ORDER ON PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR
EX PARTE TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER
AND SHORT ORDER OF NOTICE ON
MOTION FOR EXPEDITED DISCOVERY
May 15, 2013
STEARNS, D.J.
Plaintiff Signazon Corporation seeks a temporary restraining order against the
defendant Craig Nickelson d/b/a ebuysigns.com and www.signazon.co (Nickelson)
requiring Nickelson to maintain the status quo and preserving key evidence that
Signazon believes is central to its lawsuit. Having made an adequate showing in its
filings, the motion is ALLOWED. Nickelson is ordered to preserve and protect the
integrity of all material on his computer hard drives, portable drives and related
magnetic storage equipment, so that Signazon may engage in meaningful discovery of
the information found in those drives. Consequently the restraining Order issues as
follows:
Nickelson, as well as its/his affiliates, employees, officers, directors, and

representatives (collectively “Defendant”), are enjoined from destroying, deleting,
altering or modifying, any document, electronic data or other material that may contain
information pertaining to Signazon or any of the designs included in Exhibit A to this
Verified Complaint. The Defendant is ordered to preserve any and all of the
correspondence, including internal and external email, concerning Signazon, the
designs included in Exhibit A to the Verified Complaint. The Defendant is to preserve
not only hard copy documents, but also electronic data and information, no matter
where such material may be stored or the forms and formats in which it is stored. This
obligation includes, but is not limited to, e-mail, software, firmware, databases, and all
other data stored electronically, digitally, or magnetically. This obligation also requires
the preservation of all pertinent and discoverable electronic data no matter where it is
stored, including on hard drives, servers, static drives, CDROMs, DVDs, cell phones,
personal data assistants, back-up tapes, optical tapes, and any other electronic storage
device. This obligation extends to laptops and other devices that may have been issued
to the Defendant’s employees, officers, directors, representatives or consultants. The
Defendant is enjoined from engaging in any routine business practices that have the
potential to alter or destroy digital evidence without creating a backup of the data
contained on the affected drive. Such business practices may include server backup
tape rotation; electronic data shredding; scheduled destruction of backup media;
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re-imaging of drives; drive hardware exchanges; sale, gift, or destruction of computer
systems; and disk defragmentation or other disk maintenance routines.
Signazon has also moved for a short Order of Notice on its Motion for Expedited
Discovery. That motion is also ALLOWED, returnable on Wednesday, May 22, 2013,
at 4:00 in Courtroom 21 in the John J. Moakley Courthouse, Boston, Massachusetts.
At that time, the court will hear also hear defendants’ argument, if any, for a lifting of
the temporary restraining Order.
SO ORDERED.
/s/ Richard G. Stearns
________________________________
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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