Court Compels Production of Relevant Content from Social Networking Sites

EEOC v. Simply Storage Mgmt., LLC, No. 1:09-cv-1223-WTL-DML (S.D. Ind. May 11, 2010)

The EEOC, on behalf of two claimants, filed claims alleging sexual harassment. In the course of discovery, defendant sought production of claimants’ internet social networking site (“SNS”) profiles and other communications from claimants’ Facebook and MySpace.com accounts. Plaintiff resisted. Following its discussion of the “General Principles Applicable to Discovery of SNS” and the proper scope of discovery in the present case, the court determined that certain content was relevant and ordered plaintiff to produce the relevant information, subject to the guidelines identified by the court.

Defendant sought production of all SNS content on claimants’ online profiles. Plaintiff objected, arguing the requests were “overbroad, not relevant, unduly burdensome” and would improperly infringe upon claimants' privacy and cause embarrassment. Defendant claimed the information was proper where plaintiff placed the emotional health of the claimants at issue “beyond that typically encountered with ‘garden variety emotional distress claims’” and that “the nature of the injuries…alleged implicates all of [claimants’] social communications (i.e., all their Facebook and MySpace content).”

Addressing first the discovery of SNS generally, the court acknowledged that the “[d]iscovery of SNS requires the application of basic discovery principles in a novel context” but stated that the true nature of the challenge before it was to “define appropriately broad limits – but limits nevertheless – on the discoverability of social communications in light of a subject as amorphous as emotional and mental health and to do so in a way that provides meaningful direction to the parties.” Accordingly, the court determined that the claimants’ expectation and intent that their SNS communications would be maintained as private was not a legitimate basis for shielding discovery; that SNS content must be produced when relevant to the claim or defense in a case; and that the proper scope of discovery was wider than “communications that directly reference the matters alleged”, the scope advocated by the EEOC. Specifically, the court reasoned that “[i]t is reasonable to expect severe emotional or mental injury to manifest itself in some SNS content, and an examination of that content might reveal whether onset occurred, when, and the degree of stress.”

To View: Click Here
--------------------------------------
Source: ediscoverylaw.com