Sabata et al v. Nebraska Department of Correctional Services et al
Filing
107
STIPULATED ORDER ON ELECTRONICALLY STORED INFORMATION - that the parties' Stipulated Order on Electronically Stored Information (Filing No. 106 ) is adopted. Ordered by Magistrate Judge Michael D. Nelson. (LKO)
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEBRASKA
HANNAH SABATA, et al.,
Case No. 4:17cv3107
Plaintiffs,
STIPULATED ORDER ON
ELECTRONICALLY STORED
INFORMATION
v.
NEBRASKA DEPARTMENT OF
CORRECTIONAL SERVICES, et al.,
Defendants.
IT IS ORDERED that the parties’ Stipulated Order on Electronically Stored Information
(Filing No. 106) is adopted, as set forth below:
STIPULATED ORDER ON ELECTRONICALLY STORED INFORMATION
Pursuant to the Court’s May 21, 2018, Order (Filing No. 95) Plaintiffs and Defendants
hereby submit this stipulated and agreed order concerning discovery of Electronically Stored
Information (“ESI”). Absent agreement of the parties or further order of this court, the following
parameters shall apply to ESI production:
1.
Production format for paper records. Responsive documents that exist only in
paper form shall be organized as they have been kept in the ordinary course of business and shall
be produced according to the following protocol: Paper documents shall be scanned and produced
in TIFF image form at a resolution sufficient to enable, where practicable, the generation of
searchable text using Optical Character Recognition (“OCR”). This provision shall not apply to
portions of documents containing handwriting.
2.
Production format for electronic records. Responsive documents that exist in
electronic form, even if such documents also exist in paper form, shall be produced in electronic
form according to the following protocol: Electronic documents shall be produced electronically
as single page, uniquely and sequentially numbered Group IV TIFF image files of not less than
300 dots per inch resolution, together with document level load files wherein the full text was
extracted directly from the native file where possible.
3.
Parameters for TIFF production format.
a. For files produced in TIFF image format, each page of a document shall be
electronically saved as an image file. If a document is more than one page,
the unitization of the document and any attachments and/or affixed notes
shall be maintained as they existed in the original document.
b. Each document image file shall be named with the unique production
number of the page of the document in question, followed by the extension
“.tif”. File names should not be more than 20 characters long or contain
spaces.
c. Each page of a produced document shall have a legible, unique production
number electronically “burned” onto the TIFF image in such a manner that
information from the source document is not obliterated, concealed, or
interfered with, preferably in the lower right corner of the document. The
production number shall contain at least six digits. There shall be no other
legend or stamp placed on the document image, unless a document qualifies
for confidential treatment pursuant to the terms of any protective order in
this matter, or if the document requires redaction. In the case of
confidential materials as defined by any protective order in this matter, any
applicable designation may be “burned” onto the document’s image at a
location that does not obliterate or obscure any information from the source
document.
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d. TIFF images shall be accompanied by a standard load file containing the
metadata and other fields identified in Paragraph 8, below. The load file
shall be produced in one of the following industry-standard formats: (i)
Concordance delimited file (“.dat”); (ii) comma-separated value file
(“.csv”); or (iii) TAB delimited file. TIFF images shall also be accompanied
by either an Opticon delimited cross-reference file (“.opt”) or IPRO View
LFP comma-delimited file showing document breaks and appropriate
document unitization.
4.
Text-searchable. In addition to TIFF images, each production of electronic
documents shall include searchable text files corresponding to the TIFF images for each document.
The full text of each native electronic document, excluding redacted documents, shall be extracted
directly from the native file and produced in a document-level related text file (the “Extracted
Text”). The Extracted Text shall be provided in searchable ASCII text format (or Unicode text
format if the text is in a foreign language) and shall be named with the unique production number
of the first page of the corresponding TIFF document followed by the extension “.txt”. The parties
shall also perform OCR on certain types of non-text based static image ESI, such as native PDF
image files, and produce the corresponding document-level related text files. Searchable text files
shall be generated from Extracted Text where available.
5.
Production Media. Documents shall be produced on optical media (CD or DVD)
or external hard drives or similar, readily accessible electronic media (the “Production Media”).
Documents may also be produced electronically via email, FTP site, or similar electronic link by
agreement of the Plaintiffs and Defendants. Each piece of Production Media shall uniquely identify
the production and the party making such production (e.g., “NDCS - 001” for Volume 1 of the
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NDCS Defendant’s production). Each piece of Production Media shall also identify: (i) the
production date; and (ii) the production number (i.e., bates number) range of the materials
contained on the Production Media.
6.
Native format. Presentation documents (such as Microsoft PowerPoint) and
spreadsheet documents (such as Microsoft Excel) shall be produced in native format. Either side
may also make specific requests for individual documents to be produced in native format if
reasonably necessary to obtain a complete and legible version of the document. Each document
in native format shall be produced together with a single page TIFF placeholder bearing the legend
“Produced in Native Format,” and stamped with the production numbers and any applicable
confidentiality labels as described above. Load files containing the agreed upon metadata and
extracted text shall also be provided for native documents.
7.
Metadata. All metadata associated with ESI shall be collected and preserved to the
extent reasonably possible. For all document productions, load files shall be produced that include
the following fields:
Fields for all documents
BegProd
EndProd
BegAttach
EndAttach
Description
Beginning production number assigned
to each document
Ending production number assigned to
each document
Beginning production number assigned
to the group of documents to which the
parent document and any attachment
documents are associated
Ending production number assigned to
the group of documents to which the
parent document and any attachment
documents are
associated
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Fields for all documents
DocExt
HashValue
Description
document type as identified by
metadata associated with the native
document indicating the extension of
the application that created the native
document (e.g., .doc, .ppt, etc.)
The unique identifying value assigned to
a document based on hash coding
algorithms
The following metadata fields also shall be included in the load file, to the extent such
fields exist:
Metadata Fields
Custodian
DateCreated
Description
The name of the person or source from
which the document was obtained
A tag to indicate whether the producing
party is invoking the confidentiality
provisions of the protective order.
The person or source that originated the
document
Original file name
Original file path
Date that the file was last modified (as
reflected by metadata)
Date file was created
To:
Email field.
From:
Email field.
CC:
Email field.
BCC:
Email field
DateSent
Email field
DateReceived
Email field
Subject
Email field
Confidentiality
Author
FileName
FilePath
LastModifiedDate
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8.
Objections Preserved. Nothing in this protocol shall be interpreted to require
disclosure of irrelevant information or relevant information protected by the attorney-client
privilege, work-product doctrine, or any other applicable privilege or immunity. Pursuant to
Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d), the inadvertent production of a privileged or work product
protected ESI is not a waiver in the pending case or in any other federal or state proceeding.
9.
Modification and disputes. This order may be modified in the court’s discretion
or by agreement of the parties. Notwithstanding the preceding paragraphs, the parties may later
make other agreements for their mutual convenience relating to the form and manner of
production. If the parties cannot resolve their disagreements regarding modifications, the parties
shall submit their competing proposals and a summary of their dispute. To the extent a producing
party believes discovery requests or particular applications of this order may be unduly
burdensome or otherwise objectionable under the applicable rules, the parties will meet and confer
in good faith as to the necessity for, scope of, and objections to such production before seeking
relief from the Court.
10.
Costs. An agreement by any party to bear or receive the costs of any ESI discovery
is an interim agreement subject to modification and shall not prejudice any party’s right to seek
ESI expenses as taxable costs.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated this 27th day of June, 2018.
BY THE COURT:
s/ Michael D. Nelson
United States Magistrate Judge
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