The Dallas Court of Appeals recently issued an opinion limiting the discoverability of an expert’s finances. In this personal injury case, the defendant hired an expert employed by a firm that derived ninety percent of its revenues “from the defense side of the docket.” Armed with this information, the plaintiff sought financial information regarding the
Mandamus for Discovery of Personal Computer Hard Drive
The Dallas Court of Appeals granted a petition for writ of mandamus in a case in which the trial court ordered production of a personal computer hard drive and e-mail account.
Misty Jordan sued Gajekse, Inc. alleging that she was subjected to a hostile work environment and then fired for reporting it. The trial court
Discovery of Federal Tax Returns Limited
The Tyler Court of Appeals recently confirmed that individual federal tax returns are discoverable to the extent they are relevant and material. In this case, the tax returns were relevant to the claims and the court found that the parties had agreed to the production of the returns. But that was not the end of the matter.
Just say “no” to net worth
After waiting more than a decade for some guidance from the Texas Supreme Court on the meaning of "net worth" in discovery matters, we thought we were going to get just that–at least until last Friday, that is. In last Friday’s orders, the high court granted the motion to dismiss filed by the real parties in
Another Mandamus on Net Worth
The Dallas Court of Appeals recently held that a trial court abused its discretion by ordering production of irrelevant net worth information. The Court first acknowledged that "net worth is relevant and discoverable when punitive damages may be awarded." The Court noted the "corollary to that rule is that when punitive damages are not recoverable, information
Discovery of Trade Secrets – Mandamus Granted in Dallas COA
Few writs of mandamus are granted in Dallas, so when I see one in the daily case updates I like to check the opinion out. I was glad I did so today! The Dallas Court of Appeals issued an informative opinion today conditionally granting a writ of mandamus to vacate an order that compelled the production
Are we about to get new net worth discovery rules (finally)?
A few months back, I wrote about a mandamus opinion from the Houston Fourteenth Court of Appeals, involving discovery of net worth. The majority and concurring opinions were groundbreaking in terms of their discussions.
This Spring, I wrote an article that appeared in the Appellate Advocate and discussed discovery of net worth. I noted that the Relators
“Overly broad is the way that leadeth to mandamus.”
At least that’s how the Texas Supreme Court’s version of Matthew 7:13 reads. In a per curiam opinion, the Court recently demonstrated its vigilance in policing overly-broad discovery orders. In this product liability case, the plaintiff sought all documents of consumer complaints regarding "the sidestep on any model backhoe." John Deere objected to the request as overly
Electronic Discovery: Duty to Preserve and Produce Electronic Documents
A recent Dallas Court of Appeals case, MRT, Inc. v. Vounckx, provides some insights on electronic discovery in Texas.
The case essentially involves two main entities: MRT, Inc. and Inter-University Micro-Electronics Center ("IMEC"), though several other related parties and entities were involved. Basically, IMEC through its agent, Roger Vounckx, persuaded MRT and the several related individuals and entities to invest in a new technology, PhotonLink, which purportedly provided faster and more efficient computer chip communication.
When the investment proved unsuccessful, MRT sued IMEC for fraud, negligent misrepresentation, and breach of fiduciary duty. During the litigation, MRT served IMEC with requests for production, but did not confer with IMEC beforehand to ascertain how it stored its information electronically. The requests sought any computer generated or stored information relevant to the lawsuit.
At depositions, MRT’s counsel learned that IMEC had some computer back up tapes it had not produced. These tapes were apparently used for retrieval if the data base became corrupted and not for archival preservation. Because IMEC delayed producing the tapes, MRT filed a motion to compel. IMEC objected to production because: (1) extracting information from the tapes was too burdensome given there was no indication relevant information was stored on the back up tapes, which would take hours to search; and (2) IMEC had destroyed the back up tapes related to the relevant time period after MRT had sued it.
The trial court denied MRT’s request for a continuance to review the backup tapes and it denied its spoliation motion. MRT lost at trial and appealed.
Did IMEC improperly withhold the backup tapes? Did IMEC spoliate evidence when it destroyed the backup tapes after MRT filed the lawsuit? Read the extended entry to learn what the court decided. Or if you would rather read the opinion, you can get it HERE.
Continue Reading Electronic Discovery: Duty to Preserve and Produce Electronic Documents
Discovery of Net Worth Continues to Simmer
At least since the Texas Supreme Court’s 1994 opinion in Transportation Insurance Company v. Moriel, questions of the right to discovery of a defendant’s net worth information, the definition of "net worth", and the scope of information relating to net worth have been simmering in the district courts and in the courts of appeals. The latest opinion on the subject has been issued by the Fourteenth District Court of Appeals and the concurring opinion makes case for why it’s time for the Texas Supreme Court to address these thorny issues. The majority’s opinion in In re Jacobs may be found here. The concurring opinion may be found here.Continue Reading Discovery of Net Worth Continues to Simmer