The Changes to Rule 34 and the New Ways Document Requests and Objections Will Be Handled
The December 2015 changes to Rule 34 are dramatic in the way document requests and objections will be handled in federal practice.
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Email: toshea@fredlaw.com
Office: 612.492.7373
Assistant: Dawn Marshall, 612.492.7830
Tim is a skilled litigator who represents clients in all aspects of complex business litigation and intellectual property litigation in state and federal courts across the country.
Tim represents clients in litigation involving trade secret and non-compete disputes, patent infringement and licensing disputes, contract disputes, business torts and technology-related claims. Tim provides practical legal advice that is aimed at helping clients accomplish their business goals. Tim has helped clients resolve many matters through negotiation, but he has also successfully taken cases through trial.
Tim is also the Chair of the firm’s E-Discovery Strategy & Advocacy Group and has deep substantive knowledge in the constantly changing field of e-discovery. Tim is an experienced advisor regarding the preservation of evidence and helps clients formulate defensible and effective discovery plans that are proportional to the needs of the case. Tim has also advised clients on cross-border discovery issues and data privacy issues in litigation, including compliance with the Global Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and other foreign data protection laws.
Tim has lectured and written extensively on e-discovery issues. Tim was an author of an e-discovery article published in the 2014 William Mitchell Law Review, Volume 40, Issue 2 (Article 5), entitled “Using Legal Holds for Electronic Discovery” and he also co-authored a chapter entitled “Privilege and Clawbacks: Considerations Regarding the Protection of Privileged ESI” for the 2017 Minnesota E-Discovery Deskbook. Tim is also a member of leading industry groups, including the Sedona Conference, the Electronic Discovery Institute and the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists.
Prior to joining Fredrikson & Byron, Tim was a law clerk for Judge Richard H. Kyle and Chief Magistrate Judge Arthur J. Boylan of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. Tim has also served as an adjunct instructor at the University of Minnesota Law School, teaching Law in Practice to first year law students.
February 23, 2017
The December 2015 changes to Rule 34 are dramatic in the way document requests and objections will be handled in federal practice.
January 27, 2017
Courts are starting to recognize that “texting has become the preferred means of communication.” In re Pradaxa Prods. Liab. Litig., 2013 WL 6486921, at *18 (S.D. Ill Dec. 9, 2013). Indeed, one survey found that 80 percent of people use texting for business and 15 percent of people surveyed indicated that over half of their text messages were related to business. . Moreover, “80 to 90 percent of all companies have some instant messaging in use by employees,’ and 80 percent of that IM activity takes place over external programs.’” Seth A. Northrup & Li Zhu, Let’s Chat About the Legal Risks of Instant Messaging, Corporate Counsel, March 14, 2014 (citation omitted).
January 27, 2017
To establish that an item of evidence is authentic, a proponent must produce sufficient evidence “to support a finding that the item is what the proponent claims it is.” Fed. R. Evid. 901(a). Rule 901(b) of the Federal Rules of Evidence sets forth examples for establishing that the evidence is authentic, such as the testimony of a witness with knowledge.
January 25, 2017
By Timothy M. O’Shea and Ted C. Koshiol
Parties facing allegations of willful patent infringement can rebut the claim by proving that they relied in good faith upon the advice of counsel when undertaking the allegedly infringing activity. However, asserting the advice of counsel defense carries a heavy cost – waiver of privilege as to at least the attorney work product and attorney-client communications relied upon in formulating the opinion. Some courts have even extended the scope of this waiver more broadly to cover any information even considered by the advising counsel. This tradeoff leads many to forego raising the advice of counsel defense.
December 19, 2016
The new amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure have been in place for one year. So how have the courts addressed the new rules regarding e-discovery?
October 17, 2016
A recent products-liability case from a federal district court addressed the issue of the discoverability of communications between the defendants’ foreign subsidiaries with foreign regulators regarding the IVC filters at issue in the case. In re Bard IVC Filters Prod. Liab. Litig., 317 F.R.D. 562 (D. Ariz. 2016). All plaintiffs received their Bard filters and allegedly were injured in the United States. Most of the defendants’ communications with foreign regulators originated in the United States. However, there was evidence that some of the communications originated abroad, and may not have been captured in the ESI searches. The plaintiffs sought communications with foreign regulators to determine if any of those communications had been inconsistent with defendants’ communications with American regulators.
March 1, 2016
A Patent holder bringing an infringement suit sometimes brings suit to enforce hundreds of patent claims and may have little motivation to drop asserted claims until late in the litigation, leaving a defendant and the Court with numerous claims in the pre-trial phase. A recent case before Magistrate Judge Bowbeer offered further guidance on how and when courts should reduce the number of asserted claims.
December 18, 2015
The recent amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which became effective December 1, 2015, are aimed at accelerating discovery and focusing on relevancy and proportionality. Here is an overview of the key changes that will impact the timing and scope of discovery.
September 28, 2015
Patent law permits the award of legal fees to a “prevailing party” only in “exceptional cases.” A recent decision from Magistrate Judge Rau applying the Patent Act’s attorney fees provision reminds litigants that demonstrating a case is “exceptional” in only one part of the equation.
August 31, 2015
With the increased use of mobile devices for business purposes, parties to litigation are more prone to seek text messages, instant messages and voicemails during discovery. A recent federal court decision addressed the discoverability of this information.
May 21, 2014
By Timothy M. O’Shea and Ted C. Koshiol
The United States Supreme Court recently changed the standard for awarding attorneys’ fees in infringement cases, giving district courts greater latitude to award fees, and making it less likely that those awards will be overturned on appeal.