Insights Articles

Every week, the Array team reviews the latest news and analysis about the evolving field of eDiscovery to bring you the topics and trends you need to know. This week’s post covers the period of August 24-30.

Here's what's happening.

Proportionality is the focus of a recent ruling in Young v. Salesforce, Inc., covered by Doug Austin on eDiscovery Today. Here, the plaintiffs alleged Salesforce violated California and Pennsylvania law by intercepting personally identifiable information and protected health information through its Chat function, which is hosted on Salesforce servers and integrated into websites of customers like Rite Aid and Kaiser Permanente. Salesforce denied reading the plaintiffs’ communications, asserting that it merely provides the Chat tool, which its customers control.

Plaintiffs requested the Chat source code in discovery, arguing that it would reveal how Chat routes communications and Salesforce uses the data. Salesforce countered that Chat's functionality — not its code — was relevant and that it had already provided discovery about its software architecture and capabilities. Salesforce also said disclosing proprietary source code would risk competitive harm.

California Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler denied the discovery because source-code disclosure was disproportionate under Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b): “Salesforce's documents and proposed depositions offer less burdensome alternatives to understanding Chat's functionality. The plaintiffs cite cases where source code was disclosed, but all involve the voluntary production of source code. … Courts authorize alternatives like documents, diagrams, and testimony as less burdensome, proportional alternatives to source-code disclosure.”

Other recent eDiscovery news and headlines:

• ‘Discovery Is Not a Fishing Expedition’: Dismissal in AI Copyright Case Highlights Dilemma (Legaltech News)
• When Does a Final Judgment Constitute Denial of a Motion That Was Not Expressly Denied? (EDRM Blog)