The Best Way to Conduct Discovery into Social Media, Part II

Wed, Nov 17, 2010

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By Brett Clark

Via The American Lawyer.

As a followup to my last post on this subject, Magistrate Judge Joe Brown of the Middle District of Tennessee offered another creative idea for allowing discovery into a social networking site while protecting privacy concerns. Much like an in camera review of privileged documents, he proposed the following compromise:

In order to try to expedite further discovery regarding the photographs, their captions, and comments, the Magistrate Judge is willing to create a Facebook account. If Julie Knudsen and Michael Vann will accept the Magistrate Judge as a “friend” on Facebook for the sole purpose of reviewing photographs and related comments in camera, he will promptly review and disseminate any relevant information to the parties. The Magistrate Judge will then close this Facebook account. If this option is chosen, Plaintiff is required to notify the Magistrate Judge’s law clerk within fourteen (14) days of this order to set this up and provide the email addresses of Ms. Knudsen and Mr. Vann in order to locate their accounts on Facebook.

While the judge gets points for creativity, apparently no one took him up on the offer.

Discovery, Facebook, social networking

This post was written by:

Brett Clark - who has written 12 posts on JDs Rising.

I am an attorney at the Lommen Abdo law firm in Minneapolis. At Lommen, I practice civil litigation, primarily in professional liablity defense and commercial litigation. Most of my clients are lawyers, accountants, and a variety of other professionals. I received my JD from the University of St. Thomas School of Law in 2006 and a BA in political science from Carroll College in Helena, Montana. Contact Brett by e-mail at brett[at]lommen.com.

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Twitter Trackbacks for The Best Way to Conduct Discovery into Social Media, Part II - JDs Rising [minnlawyer.com] on Topsy.com Says:
November 17th, 2010 at 11:58 am

[...] The Best Way to Conduct Discovery into Social Media, Part II – JDs Rising minnlawyer.com/jdr/2010/11/17/the-best-way-to-conduct-discovery-into-social-media-part-ii/ – view page – cached As a followup to my last post on this subject, Magistrate Judge Joe Brown of the Middle District of Tennessee offered another creative idea for allowing discovery into a social networking site while protecting privacy concerns. Tweets about this link [...]

Lawyers: No death penalty for accused in Greece triple homicide | personal injury lawyers Says:
November 22nd, 2010 at 11:44 am

[...] The Best Way to Conduct Discovery into Social Media, Part II [...]

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Twitter Trackbacks for The Best Way to Conduct Discovery into Social Media, Part II - JDs Rising [minnlawyer.com] on Topsy.com Says:
November 17th, 2010 at 11:58 am
[...] The Best Way to Conduct Discovery into Social Media, Part II – JDs Rising minnlawyer.com/jdr/2010/11/17/the-best-way-to-conduct-discovery-into-social-media-part-ii/ – view page – cached As a followup to my last post on this subject, Magistrate Judge Joe Brown of the Middle District of Tennessee offered another creative idea for allowing discovery into a social networking site while protecting privacy concerns. Tweets about this link [...]
Lawyers: No death penalty for accused in Greece triple homicide | personal injury lawyers Says:
November 22nd, 2010 at 11:44 am
[...] The Best Way to Conduct Discovery into Social Media, Part II [...]

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