discovery

Last week, the American Bar Association adopted a rule calling on U.S. courts to “consider and respect, as appropriate, the data protection and privacy laws of any applicable foreign sovereign . . . with regard to data sought in discovery in civil litigation.”  In an extensive report accompanying the new rule, the ABA detailed the tensions that exist between the liberal discovery standards under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the strict data protection regimes in many foreign countries. Continue Reading ABA Urges U.S. Courts to Respect Foreign Data Protection Laws

An Eastern District of Michigan judge held that a personal injury defendant could not discover the plaintiff’s private Facebook content under Rule 26(b) governing the discoverability of evidence.  Tompkins v. Detroit Metropolitan Airport, No. 2:10-cv-10413-BAF-RSW (E.D. Mich, Jan. 18, 2012).  Although—as the court noted—the private portions of a user’s

Continue Reading Personal Injury Defendant Denied Access to Plaintiff’s Private Facebook Content