Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
The.bottom.line.is.that.these.are.just.human.beings.and.
their. decisions. will. be. based. on. their. best. understanding. of.
the.law.and.precedent,.as.well.as.the.facts.of.the.case.at.hand..
So.don't.assume.you.know.how.a.case.will.be.decided.simply.
based.on.your.understanding.of.precedence.in.past.cases.
1.2.3.7. .Spieker.v..Quest.Cherokee,.LLC.
(D. Kan..7/21/09)—It.Is.the.Practice
In.
Spieker.v..Quest
,.the.plaintiff.Spieker.iled.motion.to.com-
pel.production—.meaning.that.they.were.asking.the.courts.
to.force.or.compel.Quest.to.produce.evidence.they.felt.was.
important.to.the.case.even.though.Quest.did.not.agree.
The.defendant.Quest.was.basically.claiming.that.the.elec-
tronic.data.being.requested.was.not.reasonably.accessible.and.
not.relevant..They.said.that.they.did.not.have.the.means.to.
extract.that.information..They.claimed.that.the.software.tools.
to.do.so.were.only.recently.purchased.and.had.never.been.
tested.. Therefore. the. time. and. effort. it. would. take. to. test.
the.software.and.use.it.to.extract.the.requested.information.
would.be.extensive.and.unreasonably.expensive.
The.court.ruled.against.them,.both.because.it.felt.the.data.
were.relevant.and.because.they.felt.that.defendant's.cost.esti-
mates.were.“grossly.exaggerated.”.The.court.did.not.buy.their.
argument.that.it.would.be.so.dificult.just.because.they.had.
never.done.it.before.
What.really.sunk.their.argument.though.was.the.testimony.
of.one.of.their.IT.managers.in.deposition..The.IT.manager.
testiied. that. contrary. to. their. claims,. they. had. tested. and.
used.the.new.software.extensively.and.that.the.extraction.of.
the.relevant.electronic.evidence.would.be.relatively.simple.
The. lesson. in. this. case. is. the. same. one. we. emphasize.
over.and.over.again:.
It.is.the.practice—not.the.policy—that.
counts!
. Or. in. this. case,. it. matters. more. what. you. actually.
do. than. what. you. say. you. do.. The. IT. manager. helped. the.
court's.argument.by.admitting.that.they.had.indeed.used.the.
software.that.the.company.claimed.was.unused.and.untested.
