In Re: Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether ("MTBE") Products Liability Litigation

Filing 4507

CASE MANAGEMENT ORDER: It is hereby ORDERED that: This Agreement on the Production of Electronically Stored Information (hereafter "Agreement") is by and between the plaintiff and defendants hereto, in the action presently pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York entitled In Re: Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE) Products Liability litigation, Master File C.A. No. 1:00-1898, M21-88, MDL No. 1358, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, et al. v. Exxon Mobil Corp., et al., No. 1:14-cv006228. This Agreement governs the production of ESI subsequent to the execution of the Agreement as set forth in this order. The parties shall make their best efforts to resolve any differences concerning compliance with this Agreement. If a producing party believes it cannot comply with one or more portions of this agreement, such party shall inform the requesting party in writing at the time of production as to why compliance with the protocol, or any part thereof, is unreasonable or not possible. No party may seek relief from the Court concerning compliance with the Agreement until it has met and conferred with the other party to this action. SO ORDERED (Signed by Magistrate Judge Debra C. Freeman on 6/25/2018) Filed In Associated Cases: 1:00-cv-01898-VSB, 1:14-cv-06228-VSB-DCF(rj)

USDCSDNY
DOCUMENT
ELECTRONICALLY FILED
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

IN RE: METHYL TERTIARY BUTYL ETHER ("MTBE")
PRODUCTS LIABILITY LITIGATION

DOC#:
DATEFI-LE_D_:_",.' :/r----- ):
J """" ~ /4,?,~ -

Master File No. l :00 - 1898
MDL 1358
M21-88

This document relates to:

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, et al. v.
Exxon Mobil Corp., et al., No. I : I 4-cv-06228

f'ROPO8-EV CASE MANAGEMENT ORDER
AGREEMENT ON THE PRODUCTION OF
ELECTRON ICA LL Y STORED INFORMATION (ESI)
WHEREAS the parties having " met and conferred" and having reached agreement on a
protocol to govern the production of electronically stored information,

It is hereby ORDERED that :
This Agreement on the Production of Electronically Stored Information (hereafter "Agreement")
is by and between the plaintiff and defendants hereto, in the action presently pending in the
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York entitled In Re: Methyl
Tertiary Buty l Ether (.MTBE) Products Liability litigation, Master File C.A. No . I :00-1898,
M21-88, MDL No . 1358, Commonwealth of'Pennsylvania, et al. v. Exxon Mobil Corp., et al.,
No. 1: 14-cv006228.
This Agreement governs the production of ES I subsequent to the execution of the Agreement.

I.

ELECTRONICALLY STORED INFORMATION
a.

All structured data, typically stored with enforced composition to atomic data
types, includes but is not limited to : relational databases (e.g., Oracle, SQL
Server), data warehouses, spreadsheets (e.g., Excel, Lotus 123), financial systems,
document management systems, statistical systems, and analytical systems. File
extensions/types that may constitute structured data include : .DAT, .RPT, .XLS,
.XLSX, .XLSB, .123, .SDC, .ODS, .DBF, .MDF, .CSV, .MDB and .ACCDB. As
to any structured data maintained utilizing software ore data management systems
or other systems that are less ubiquitous than MS Access or MS Excel, the files
shall be provided as comma or tab delimited text files. All ubiquitous structured
data shall be produced in native rormat to the extent reasonably practicable and
shall have unique bates numbers.

b. ALL EMAIL:
1.

Shall be produced as single page "tiff' (Group IV black and white 300
dpi) images with file names that match the bates number; multi page
extracted text files with file names that match the first bates number of the
document; and any objective field data contained in a delimited text field;
and summation DII lPRO, or Concordance DA T/Opticon image load files
which includes all document breaks;

11.

Shall include in the load file, to the extent practicable, for e-mails with
attachments: (a) the beginning attachment range number(s); (b) the ending
attachment range number(s), where the "attachment range" records the
relationship of e-mails to their attachment; and (c) Custodian; and

111.

Shall include in the load file, to the extent practicable, metadata
information including: (a) the individual to whom the communication was
directed ("To"); (b) the author of the e-mail communication ("From"); (c)
who was copied ("cc") and/or blind copied ("bee"); (d) the subject line of
the e-mail ("Re" or "Subject"); and (e) the date and time sent; and (f)
custodian .

c. ALL OTHER ES!:
1.

Shall be produced as single page "tiff' (Group IV black and white 300
dpi) images with file names that match the bates number; multi page
extracted text files, or OCR text files when extracted text is unavailable,
with file names that match the first bates number of the document; any
objective field data contained in a delimited text field; and summation DII
IPRO, or Concordance DA T/Opticon image load files that include all
document breaks ; and

11.

Shall include in the load file, to the extent practicable: (a) the file
extension (" DocType") (e.g., .doc, .pdf, .jpeg, etc.) and (b) Custodian; (c)
filename; (d) location; (e) create date/time; (f) modified date/time; (g) file
size; and (h) Hash/SHA value.

d. OTHER:
1. PASSWORD-PROTECTED OR ENCRYPTED FILES: Documents that
are locked by a password or encrypted as they are kept in the ordinary
course of business shall be produced, if possible, in a form that is
unlocked or decrypted . Where files that cannot be unlocked or decrypted
or for which read-only protection cannot be removed, the parties will
provide the list of the file names and meet-and-confer regarding the
production of such documents.

11.

111.

MODELS : Models (groundwater, hydrology, etc.) shall be produced in
their native format where possible. If the model is in a proprietary format
that is difficult to produce, the parties shall meet-and- confer on the best
method to produce the model. To the extent the purchase of a license(s) is
required to view/utilize the model, the parties shall meet-and-confer
regard ing the costs of the model with the understanding that reasonable
costs shall be borne by the requesting party.
DA TA DESCRIPTIONS: Data descriptions necessary to use and
understand the data should be provided as available and applicable (e.g.,
abbreviation key, code key, etc.).

1v. COLOR DOCUMENTS: Documents shall be produced in color where
necessary to interpret the documents .
v. DE-DUPLICATION : If a responsive document is located on a centralized
server or network, an individual employee's computer, or otherwise
located within a party's possession, custody or control, the producing
party shall not be required to produce multiple copies of the same
responsi ve document .
v1. METADAT A AND NATIVE FILES: If a producing party believes that it
cannot compl y with one or more portions of this Agreement regarding the
production of metadata and/or Native Files, such party shall inforn1 the
requesting party in writing at the time of production as to why compliance
with the protocol , or any part thereof, is unreasonable or not possible.
When an individual or a small number of files are being collected
independently of an ESI collection being perfonned by ESI consultants
(e.g., in response to a deposition notice, during a witness interview), such
files may be produced wi thout the metadata, especially the Hash/SHA
value, described herein .
II.

BEST EFFORTS COMPLIANCE
The parties shall make their best efforts to resolve any differences concerning
compliance with this Agreement. If a producing party believes it cannot comply with
one or more portions of this agreement, such party shall inform the requesting party
in writing at the time of production as to why compliance with the protocol , or any
part thereof, is unreasonable or not possible. No party may seek relief from the Court
concerning compliance with the Agreement until it has met and conferred with the
other party to this action .
SO ORDERED

t }-r/1J-

dh ~