Date: 2005-04-05 Docket: S006413. T.J. Melnick, J. | Link

While not dealing with cost-shifting for electronic discovery, this case does deal with an analogous situation. The plaintiff is a Peruvian mining company; the defendant is a British Columbian company that controls its subsidiary in Peru. Defendant complains that plaintiff has been dilatory in producing documents. Plaintiff objects that much of the financial information sought in the demand for further production is only of marginal relevance, but in para 31 the Court agreed that the documents were potentially relevant. "The plaintiffs concede that they have in their possession or control a substantial number of financial documents (approximately 300,000 "backup accounting documents", some of which were apparently used to generate financial statements which have been disclosed). The plaintiffs submit that the cost of producing this financial information will be close to $16,000. The plaintiffs are prepared to produce all of this information upon payment by the defendants in advance. Alternately, the plaintiffs propose that they will make the documents available for inspection in Peru by the defendants and their experts." (para 13) The court concluded "Certain financial records are to be examined by representatives of the defendants in Peru or provided for inspection in Vancouver upon the defendants providing security of US $16,000." (para 36).