Date: 2011-04-26 Docket: 09-CV-387984. Perell J. |Link

The court set aside a decision in which the Master ordered the search through millions of pages of documents extending back 35 years. The Master assumed that modern search engines and electronic databases would simplify the process, even if the documents are in un-indexed paper filing cabinets. The court's view was that the question of how the search would be done and the tools to be used should be discussed between the parties and included in the discovery plan. See para 171: "This approach is already envisioned by the Rules of Civil Procedure, where the availability of information technology can be addressed prospectively as part of the preparation for the examinations for discovery. In other words, the availability of search engines and other information retrieval technology should inform the party’s discovery plans that are required by the Rules of Civil Procedure. It is as an aspect of the discovery plans that the parties can address the technology that is available or that might become available to facilitate documentary discovery and the examinations for discovery."