A motion was filed by plaintiffs seeking, among other things, production of archived emails that were authored by one of the defendants and that related to either plaintiff. The defendants argued that the production request was unduly burdensome and would require them to search backup tapes containing the archived emails. Under the facts, the court held that the production request would impose a significant financial burden on defendants and that plaintiffs failed to show the search would likely result in discovery of relevant information. As a result, the court stated that:
“Based on the cost of the proposed search and the plaintiffs’ failure to establish that the search will likely uncover relevant information, the Court concludes that the plaintiffs are entitled to the archived e-mails only if they are willing to pay for part of the cost of production.”
This result, said the court, would provide an incentive for focused document requests.
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