Mirror images – Court considers plaintiff’s access to defendants’ hard drives

Description

Abstract: The extent of access that parties should have to each other’s electronically stored information (ESI) continues to roil the courts. In one recent case, a court looked into whether a plaintiff could make “mirror images” of the defendants’ hard drives. The defendants made three arguments: 1) state law prohibited this disclosure of privileged health information; 2) “broad” search terms would surely “pull up” privileged information; and 3) state regulations didn’t authorize unrestricted direct access to the drives. But the court disagreed, citing evidence that raised an inference of the defendants’ improper conduct in handling the information.