Miller Jr., Charles S., United States Magistrate Judge
Trial court granted defendant's motion to compel and required plaintiff to reinstate her Facebook account to respond to discovery requests. Plaintiff had "deactivated" her account a year prior to receiving the requests for production upon advice of counsel.
During her deposition, plaintiff testified that she rarely used the account, and did so primarily to communicate with her nieces and nephews. She deactivated the account after being advised to do so by her attorney. She attempted to reactivate the account to respond to the discovery requests, but was unable to remember the password and did not attempt to change her password or contact Facebook to access the account.
Although the court was "skeptical" that plaintiff's Facebook account would contain "any relevant, noncumulative information, especially given the amount of discovery already completed in the case", it ordered that plaintiff work with counsel to make a reasonable, good faith effort to reactivate the account and provide screenshots of any relevant and responsive information from the account.
Of note was a mistake by defendant in drafting their RFP's. The motion to compel involved two separate requests for different information, but in drafting the requests, defendant included different beginning dates for the information sought. In one, it asked for posts since October 19, 2008. In the second, defendant sought posts since October 19, 2011, a full two years later. The court denied defendant's request to extend both requests to the earlier 2008 date, and ordered production of relevant posts back to the requested dates only.
v.
HILAND OPERATING, LLC, a Foreign Company, Hiland Partners GP Holdings, LLC, a Foreign Company, and Hiland Partners LP, a Foreign Partnership, Defendants and Third–Party Plaintiff (Hiland Operating, LLC),
v.
Missouri Basin Well Service, Inc., and B & B Heavy Haul, LLC, Third–Party Defendants
Counsel
David S. Maring, James R. Hoy, Maring Williams Law Office, PC, Bismarck, ND, Dennis P. Wilkinson, Thompson, Smith, Woolf & Anderson, PLLC, Idaho Falls, ID, Robert P. Schuster, Bradley L. Booke, Robert P. Schuster, P.C., Jackson, WY, for Plaintiffs.Meredith L. Vukelic, Patrick W. Durick, Pearce & Durick, Bismarck, ND, John M. Fitzpatrick, Stephen E. Oertle, Wheeler Trigg O'Donnell LLP, Denver, CO, Margaret M. Clarke, Hall, Estill, Hardwick, Gable, Gold, Tulsa, OK, for Defendants and Third–Party Plaintiff (Hiland Operating, LLC).
Joel A. Flom, Flom Law Office, P.A., Fargo, ND, Christopher A. Wills, Gordon H. Hansmeier, Rajkowski Hansmeier, Ltd., St. Cloud, MN, for Third–Party Defendants.