Lyman v. Ford Motor Co.
Lyman v. Ford Motor Co.
344 F.R.D. 228 (E.D. Mich. 2023)
June 28, 2023

Stafford, Elizabeth A.,  United States Magistrate Judge

Attorney-Client Privilege
Self-collection
Search Terms
Attorney Work-Product
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Summary
The Court granted the motion to compel electronic searches of Defendant Ford Motor Company's records associated with four custodians. The Court emphasized the need for cooperation between opposing counsel and transparency in all aspects of preservation and production of ESI, and held that an attorney may not simply rely on custodian self-collection of ESI. The Court also ordered a status conference on July 11, 2023.
Additional Decisions
David LYMAN, et al., Plaintiffs,
v.
FORD MOTOR COMPANY, Defendant
Case No. 21-10024
United States District Court, E.D. Michigan, Southern Division
Signed June 28, 2023

Counsel

Brian Johnson, Victoria S. Nugent, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, Washington, DC, Dana Fraser, Dennis A. Lienhardt, Sharon S. Almonrode, William Kalas, E. Powell Miller, The Miller Law Firm, P.C., Rochester, MI, Geoff Stahl, Steven G. Calamusa, Gordon & Partners, PA, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, Theodore J. Leopold, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, Jon Herskowitz, Baron & Herskowitz, Miami, FL, Joseph Kenney, Matthew D. Schelkopf, Sauder Schelkopf LLC, Berwyn, PA, Rebecca P. Chang, Handley Farah & Anderson PLLC, New York, NY, William H. Anderson, Handley Farah & Anderson PLLC, Boulder, CO, for Plaintiffs David Lyman, Vincent Brady.
Brian Johnson, Douglas James McNamara, Victoria S. Nugent, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, Washington, DC, Dana Fraser, Dennis A. Lienhardt, Sharon S. Almonrode, William Kalas, E. Powell Miller, The Miller Law Firm, P.C., Rochester, MI, Geoff Stahl, Steven G. Calamusa, Gordon & Partners, PA, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, Theodore J. Leopold, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, Jon Herskowitz, Baron & Herskowitz, Miami, FL, Joseph Kenney, Matthew D. Schelkopf, Sauder Schelkopf LLC, Berwyn, PA, Rebecca P. Chang, Handley Farah & Anderson PLLC, New York, NY, William H. Anderson, Handley Farah & Anderson PLLC, Boulder, CO, for Plaintiff Timothy Thuering.
Brian Johnson, Douglas James McNamara, Victoria S. Nugent, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, Washington, DC, Dana Fraser, Dennis A. Lienhardt, William Kalas, E. Powell Miller, The Miller Law Firm, P.C., Rochester, MI, Geoff Stahl, Rachel Bentley, Gordon & Partners, PA, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, Jon Herskowitz, Baron & Herskowitz, Miami, FL, Joseph Kenney, Matthew D. Schelkopf, Sauder Schelkopf LLC, Berwyn, PA, Rebecca P. Chang, Handley Farah & Anderson PLLC, New York, NY, William H. Anderson, Handley Farah & Anderson PLLC, Boulder, CO, for Plaintiffs John Wiley, Marc Baus, Ronnie Swindell, Thermon Stacy.
Brian Johnson, Victoria S. Nugent, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, Washington, DC, Dana Fraser, Dennis A. Lienhardt, William Kalas, E. Powell Miller, The Miller Law Firm, P.C., Rochester, MI, Geoff Stahl, Rachel Bentley, Gordon & Partners, PA, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, Jon Herskowitz, Baron & Herskowitz, Miami, FL, Joseph Kenney, Matthew D. Schelkopf, Sauder Schelkopf LLC, Berwyn, PA, Rebecca P. Chang, Handley Farah & Anderson PLLC, New York, NY, William H. Anderson, Handley Farah & Anderson PLLC, Boulder, CO, for Plaintiffs Judson Wessbecher, James Rittmanic, Dennis Gabel, Richard Shawley, Gordon McCardy, Michelle Shawley.
Brian Johnson, Victoria S. Nugent, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, Washington, DC, Dana Fraser, Dennis A. Lienhardt, William Kalas, E. Powell Miller, The Miller Law Firm, P.C., Rochester, MI, Geoff Stahl, Gordon & Partners, PA, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, Jon Herskowitz, Baron & Herskowitz, Miami, FL, Joseph Kenney, Matthew D. Schelkopf, Sauder Schelkopf LLC, Berwyn, PA, Rebecca P. Chang, Handley Farah & Anderson PLLC, New York, NY, William H. Anderson, Handley Farah & Anderson PLLC, Boulder, CO, for Plaintiff Jason Pierce.
Dennis A. Lienhardt, E. Powell Miller, The Miller Law Firm, P.C., Rochester, MI, Douglas James McNamara, Cohen Milstein Sellers and Toll PLLC, Washington, DC, Rebecca P. Chang, Handley Farah & Anderson PLLC, New York, NY, William H. Anderson, Handley Farah & Anderson PLLC, Boulder, CO, for Plaintiffs John Herold, David Flynn, Dana Herold.
Cari Katrice Dawson, Elizabeth Broadway Brown, Jamie Smith George, Jason Robert Rottner, Alston & Bird Litigation and Trial, Atlanta, GA, Jeffrey A. Turner, Stephanie A. Douglas, Susan M. McKeever, Bush Seyferth Paige, Troy, MI, Kathleen S. Corpus, Shannon L.H. Phillips, Bowman and Brooke LLP, Troy, MI, Tina Ngo, Alston & Bird, San Francisco, CA, for Defendant.
Stafford, Elizabeth A., United States Magistrate Judge

ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFFS' MOTION TO COMPEL ELECTRONIC SEARCHES OF CUSTODIAN RECORDS (ECF NO. 112)

A.
*1 Plaintiffs moved to compel electronic searches of Defendant Ford Motor Company's records associated with four custodians. ECF No. 112. The Honorable Gershwin A. Drain referred this motion to the undersigned for hearing and determination under 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(A). ECF No. 114. After a hearing on June 27, 2023, the Court:
• GRANTS plaintiffs' request for Ford to undertake electronic searches of all records associated with four custodians (John Dunahay, Chris Palazzolo, Glenn Humphries, and Matt Matthews);
• ORDERS that the parties have transparent and cooperative discussions about the search terms and search methodology, and that defendants produce responsive documents. The Court will hold a status conference on July 11, 2023 at 11:00 AM via Zoom.
B.
The Court detailed its reasoning during the hearing. To summarize, Ford provided a vague description of its search methodology for most of the custodians, and it claimed privilege for testimony that plaintiffs said proved that Ford's methodology was too custodian-driven. ECF No. 123-10, PageID.6540; ECF No. 125, PageID.6699. Although there is conflicting precedent, this Court announces in this order that it agrees with opinions emphasizing that “[e]lectronic discovery requires cooperation between opposing counsel and transparency in all aspects of preservation and production of ESI.” William A. Gross Const. Assocs., Inc. v. Am. Mfrs. Mut. Ins. Co., 256 F.R.D. 134, 136 (S.D.N.Y. 2009); see also In re Valsartan, Losartan & Irbesartan Prod. Liab. Litig., 337 F.R.D. 610, 617–18 (D.N.J. 2020) (same).
And this Court has already held that “an attorney may not simply rely on custodian self-collection of ESI. Instead, counsel must test the accuracy of the client's response to document requests to ensure that all appropriate sources of data have been searched and that responsive ESI has been collected—and eventually reviewed and produced.” Waskul v. Washtenaw Cnty. Cmty. Mental Health, 569 F. Supp. 3d 626, 636 (E.D. Mich. 2021) (cleaned up).
The Court also rejects any argument that a party's search protocol is privileged. Romero v. Allstate Ins. Co., 271 F.R.D. 96, 110 (E.D. Pa. 2010) (finding search methodology not protected by work-product protection because “the underlying facts of what documents are responsive to Plaintiffs' document requests and does not delve into the thought processes of Defendants' counsel.”); Vasoli v. Yards Brewing Co., LLC, No. CV 21-2066, 2021 WL 5045920, at *2 (E.D. Pa. Nov. 1, 2021) (“[N]either the attorney-client privilege nor the work-product doctrine prohibit the disclosure of factual information, the steps that a party took to search for and produce relevant documents are discoverable.”). As well stated in Vasoli:
It would go against reason to find that the steps a party takes to identify responsive documents are privileged when those steps result in an evasion of discovery obligations by not collaborating on their discovery and ESI search strategies. Such a holding would reward attempts to circumvent the collaborative process envisioned by the discovery rules and would run contrary to their instruction that this kind of gamesmanship should instead be met with sanctions.
*2 2021 WL 5045920 at *2.
Finally, despite Ford's claim that it made a full production of responsive documents, the limited production from key custodians “permits a reasonable deduction that other documents may exist.” Maker's Mark Distiller, Inc. v. Spalding Grp., Inc., No. 319CV00014GNSLLK, 2021 WL 2018880, at *3 (W.D. Ky. Apr. 20, 2021).[1]
IT IS SO ORDERED.

Footnotes

Ford's motion to seal exhibits, ECF No. 109, was not referred to the undersigned. If it had been, the Court would have denied the motion for the reasons stated in plaintiffs' response. ECF No. 120. The Court does not believe that the exhibits at issue were essential to this Court's ruling on the motion to compel. During their meet and confer, the parties may discuss whether they wish to stipulate to remove the exhibits from the docket before the motion to seal is decided.