Baverman, Alan J., United States Magistrate Judge
In the present case, the parties argued whether they needed to produce ESI as native files or PDFs. Defendant claimed it would cost $3,000 more to produce ESI as native files instead of PDFs ($2,000 for the ESI processing
and production, plus $1,000 for the paralegal to manage the production
of native files and spreadsheets at $150 an hour). Plaintiff argued that the emails and spreadsheets supporting defendant's defense theory were susceptible to "post hoc
manipulation" and therefore the production of these documents in native
format was necessary in this case.
The court held that defendant failed to demonstrate the production was cost prohibitive and explained that:
even had defendant made a showing that it costs $3,000 more to produce the native files than to produce the PDF files, plaintiff has shown good cause for the court to order the production. While there has been no specific reason so far to believe that the emails and scheduling spreadsheets would have been modified since the time period at issue in the suit, it is not at all unreasonable for plaintiff to wish to verify herself whether the emails or spreadsheets had been subsequently manipulated, modified, altered, or changed. Moreover, while it does appear that plaintiff’s suit is unlikely to be of an especially high dollar value, the court finds that the public value of allowing a civil-rights plaintiff opportunity to access information relevant and quite possibly necessary to her pregnancy-discrimination suit far outweighs the asserted $3,000 cost.
Accordingly, the court ordered defendant to produce the requested ESI in native format within fourteen days from the date of the court's order.
v.
Reliable Security, LLC, Defendant
Counsel
Joshua A. Millican, Law Office of Joshua A. Millican, P.C., Lisa T. Millican, Greenfield Millican, P.C., Atlanta, GA, for Plaintiff.Frederica Joy White, Ford & Harrison LLP, Atlanta, GA, for Defendant.
ORDER
A party need not provide discovery of electronically stored information from sources that the party identifies as not reasonably accessible because of undue burden or cost. On motion to compel discovery or for a protective order, the party from whom the discovery is sought must show that the information is not reasonably accessible because of undue burden or cost. If that showing is made, the court may nonetheless order discovery from such sources if the requesting party shows good cause ....