In litigation, social media has become a very hot issue. Many parties think they can obtain that final, critical piece of evidence from social media. One example is Facebook. Many employers involved in a lawsuit request the employee’s Facebook posts for a certain time period. The rationale is that a victim of discrimination cannot legitimately
Most lawyers avoid discovery sanctions like the plague. Yet, some parties accept the risk. One recent sanctions award amounted to $2.7 million. In a lawsuit entitled Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. v. Haeger, the U.S. Supreme Court heard an appeal regarding that very lag sanction award. Justice Elena Kagan ruled in a unanimous opinion
One recurring issue in employment cases is the breadth of discovery that is allowable. Many employers want to seek the records of the plaintiff’s former jobs. That means the employer can possibly rummage around the employee’s former jobs and see if there is any dirt that will help the employer. Unfortunately, some plaintiff attorneys do
Many, if not all discrimination cases, require that the employee compare him/herself to other employees. It is simply the nature of employment lawsuits that a victim alleges s/he was treated differently than others. To make that allegation, the employee must seek documents and records concerning his/her fellow employees. So, it is no surprise that Coach
I previously wrote about Judge Lynn Hughes of the Southern District of Texas here and here. Again, he has ordered no discovery in a lawsuit that could not function without discovery. And, again, he has been overruled by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. See opinion here. The Fifth Circuit seems to be
Some time back, I discussed a case where the defendant in a personal injury lawsyit was trying to obtain continued discovery of a plaintiff’s Facebook and My Space entries. See my prior post. The Houston trial judge had ruled that after the plaintiff changed her settings to private, the defendant could no longer obtain
In a lawsuit in Houston, the defendant has filed a writ with the Texas Supreme Court seeking access to a plaintff’s Facebook and MySpace entries. The defendant wants the entries because they represent a "compilation" of who the plaintiff is. See petition for writ of mandamus. In Re Magellan Holdings, LP And
Discrimination lawsuits, like many lawsuits, rely heavily on discovery. Discovery is the process by which we seek the other sides’ evidence. In employment cases, the discovery process takes on added importance because the employer has most of the key evidence. The employer, for example, posses personnel records regarding other employee who were terminated for similar
The first thing one defense lawyer does when he is hired for an employment case is check the employee’s Facebook account. See blog post. Eric Meyer, a defense lawyer, looks for references to the work place or the employer. He prints out any pictures. He looks for any information that refutes or refers to
My friend Gene Lee wrote a good post about how long discrimination lawsuits can take. He refers to statistics showing that from start to finish, the average lawsuit will take 22 months. That sounds about right for the San Antonio area, also. Here in South Texas, we can file the typical discrimination lawsuit in state