*1 Special Master Garrie was appointed on March 3, 2014. (Dkt. No. 149.) On March 10, 2014, the parties, counsel for all parties, and ESI consultants for all parties, met with Special Master Daniel Garrie and United States Magistrate Judge Peggy Leen in chambers. (Dkt. No. 151.) On March 18, 2014, Special Master Garrie memorialized his directives to the parties in a written order. (Dkt. No. 154.)

Special Master Garrie conducted multiple hearings on the following dates: April 4, 2014; April 7, 2014; April 10, 2014; April 15, 2014; April 27, 2014; May 1, 2014; May 6, 2014; May 20, 2014; June 3, 2014; June 16, 2014; June 26, 2014; July 3, 2014; July 19, 2014; July 25, 2014; July 28, 2014; August 4, 2014; and August 8, 2014, with counsel, the parties' representatives, and consultants regarding UMC's ESI collection and production issues, as well as UMC's efforts to comply with the ESI Protocol with respect to collecting, searching, and producing ESI from databases. UMC's paper production of responsive documents, and outstanding issues surrounding UMC preservation, collection, and production of ESI from the newly discovered timekeeping systems.

A. UMC Failed To Comply With The ESI Protocol As To The Production Of Responsive ESI Contained In Databases.

At the hearing on August 8, 2014, Counsel for UMC informed Special Master Garrie that Mr. Edmondson, UMC's existing ESI Vendor, failed to comply with the handling of databases as set-forth in the Amended ESI Protocol (Dkt. 165) stipulated to by the Parties. See (8/08/14 transcript), at 66-71 (discussing UMC's failure to identify databases as required under the ESI Protocol). At this hearing, it was established that Mr. Edmondson had not processed, searched, and produced the database ESI. See (8/8/14 transcript), at 67.

B. Hard Copy Document Production

At the April 22, 2014 hearing, Special Master Garrie ordered UMC to construct a document index for the hard copy document review hearing. See (4/22/14 transcript), at 227. During the June 16, 2014 hearing, the Special Master Garrie heard positions of both parties on hard copy review and substantial conferring by the parties off the record transpired. As a result of this dialogue, the parties reached an agreement regarding in-person review of hard copy documents at UMC, document indices, and custodian declarations. See (6/16/14 transcript), at 110:15-112:24; see id. at 106:23-107:5.

Between April and July of 2014, UMC worked to comply with these orders. However, in late July of 2014, UMC counsel's asserted that Plaintiffs' counsel's use of the word “production” instead of “inspection” changed the protocol such that UMC was no longer required to comply with the prior orders and agreement it had reached around the production of paper documents. Instead UMC sought to produce departmental documents scanned on CDs, without indices, and submit custodian declarations at later dates. See Exs. A, B (Plaintiffs' and UMC's Letter Briefs).

C. Preservation, Collection, and Production of Responsive ESI from UMC Timekeeping Systems[1]

*2 At the July 28, 2014, August 4, 2014, and August 8, 2014 hearing, Special Master Garrie ordered UMC to provide declarations from individuals including: David Williams a System Administrator in UMC's information technology (“IT”) department;[2] Carmelito Mendoza, a Database Analyst in UMC's IT department;[3] John Rendall, Director of Environmental Services & Patient Transport; Jessica Monje, Manager, Service Response Center; Bill Pellegrino, Director, Patient Placement, Tana Wisniewski, IT Support for GRASP, and Linda Williams, Nursing Supervisor.[4]

Special Master Garrie determined that UMC's IT department supports these timekeeping systems by bifurcating support into application and database support. See (8/8/2014 transcript) at 14:8-21 (Mr. Mendoza testifying that he is the database owner but not the application owner for the timekeeping systems within the IT department). It was also established that these additional timekeeping systems were used by members of the opt-in Plaintiffs class, and that each of these systems can be used to track scheduled meal breaks, with the possible exception of GRASP). See Ex. C (June 25, 2014 Witty Letter).[5] It was also determined that all the timekeeping systems, except TeleTracking and possibly Clarity depending on how user time entries were captured, permitted users (including opt-in Plaintiffs) to overwrite the data entered. This made it necessary for UMC to have preserved a copy of the data in the timekeeping system to prevent possible loss of ESI.[6] See (8/4/14 transcript), at 125-127; Ex. G (8/7/2014 Linda Williams declaration), at ¶ 2 (stating users could alter data in GRASP during a 24 hour period and that GRASP has a 6 month retention period); Ex. F (8/7/14 Gurrola declaration), at ¶¶ 4-5 (stating that managers and supervisors can make changes to Crimestar reports).[7]

*3 At the August 8, 2014 hearing, it was established by UMC's counsel that there is no individual at UMC with sufficient skill, knowledge, or expertise with any of the four timekeeping systems to ensure collection, search, and production of responsive ESI from these systems. See (8/8/2014 transcript) at 44:1-4, 44:18-25, 45:1-2, 48:13-17 (UMC agrees to identify individuals who can address issues with proprietary database systems).

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT UMC is to collect, search, and produce all responsive ESI contained in all databases identified by Plaintiffs and UMC on or before August 11, 2014 pursuant to the ESI Protocol no later than August 29, 2014, and UMC is to retain a vendor with appropriate skills and expertise to facilitate a timely and orderly production of this ESI;

IT IS HEREBY FURTHER ORDERED THAT UMC is to provide scanned copies of departmental documents, along with accompanying indexes and custodian of records declarations,[8] prepare a document index for these documents as previously agreed and ordered by the Special Master (4/22/2014 transcript at 227; 6/16/14 transcript, at 110:15-112:24; see id. at 106:23-107:5), and UMC is to produce at least seven (7) departments per week starting the week of August 18, 2014 with the document index and the appropriate custodian declarations relating to the hard-copy documents; and

IT IS HEREBY FURTHER ORDERED THAT UMC is to produce all responsive ESI contained in the Clarity, GRASP, TeleTracker, and CrimeStar timekeeping systems no later than September 3, 2014 in the following manner:

*4 A one-hour hearing is tentatively scheduled for August 15, 2014 at 14:00 PST to discuss any technical issues that may arise or require further clarification from the supplemental declarations of Mr. Mendoza, Mr. Schaibley, and Mr. Edmondson.

SO ORDERED.

EXHIBIT A

EXHIBIT B

EXHIBIT C

EXHIBIT D

EXHIBIT E

EXHIBIT F

EXHIBIT G

EXHIBIT H

EXHIBIT I

EXHIBIT J

EXHIBIT K

EXHIBIT B

EXHIBIT “A”

EXHIBIT “B”

EXHIBIT C

EXHIBIT D

EXHIBIT A

EXHIBIT B

EXHIBIT C

EXHIBIT E

EXHIBIT F

EXHIBIT G

EXHIBIT H

EXHIBIT I