eDiscovery Daily Blog
Court Defines Narrowed Scope for Requests for Social Media Data: eDiscovery Case Law
In Scott v. United States Postal Service, No. 15-712-BAJ-EWD (M.D. La. Dec. 27, 2016), Louisiana Magistrate Judge Erin Wilder-Doomes granted the defendant’s Motion to Compel Discovery in part, ordering the plaintiff to provide complete responses to the defendant’s interrogatory and request for production, but only after she limited the scope of both requests, determining them to be “overly broad”.
Case Background
In this personal injury case stemming from an automobile accident involving a vehicle driven by a United States Postal Service worker while that worker was on the job, the defendant requested via Interrogatory for the plaintiff to “Identify any and all social media (including but not limited to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter)” she had used since June 6, 2014 (the date of the accident). The defendant also requested (via Request for Production) for the plaintiff to “Produce all postings related to any type of physical or athletic activities from June 6, 2014, to present on all social media websites, including, but not limited to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.”
In her written discovery responses, Plaintiff objected to each of these requests by asserting that “the information requested is inclement, immaterial and not reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.”
The defendant sent a letter to the plaintiff in July 2016, explaining that it had a good faith basis for believing that the plaintiff had posted photographs and other information on social media about her activities since the accident, which involve physical activity (including one photograph on Facebook account showing the plaintiff and her fiancé in ski attire on a snow covered mountain), and that such information is relevant to the case.
After efforts to confer were unable to resolve the dispute, the defendant filed its Motion to Compel in September 2016. In response, the plaintiff argued that the defendant’s request for all of her social media photos was overly broad because it would require the production of a significant amount of irrelevant information. In its Reply Memorandum, the defendant maintained that the plaintiff had waived her objections to the discovery requests at issue and that the defendant was entitled to the information and documents requested because they are relevant to the plaintiff’s personal injury claims.
Judge’s Ruling
Noting that “Plaintiff does not address Defendant’s argument that her failure to timely voice adequate objections to the discovery requests constitutes a waiver of any objection she may have to the discovery requests”, Judge Wilder-Doomes found that the “boilerplate” language used by the plaintiff in objecting “does not suffice to assert a valid objection to the discovery requests” and found that the plaintiff had waived her objections to the discovery requests.
Despite that ruling, Judge Wilder-Doomes found the discovery requests to be “overbroad” and decided to “limit the requests in accordance with Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1)”. With regard to the Interrogatory, Judge Wilder-Doomes limited the request to “identifying all social media accounts that Plaintiff has used since the underlying accident on June 6, 2014, her usernames, whether she has accessed the accounts since the accident, and the last time she accessed the accounts”.
With regard to the Request for Production, she limited the request to “all of Plaintiff’s social media postings, including photographs, since the June 6, 2014 accident that: (1) refer or relate to the physical injuries Plaintiff alleges she sustained as a result of the accident and any treatment she received therefor; or (2) reflect physical capabilities that are inconsistent with the injuries that Plaintiff allegedly suffered as a result of the accident.”
So, what do you think? Should courts limit the scope of discovery requests? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.
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