Spending 9 percent of your organization’s total annual budget on e-discovery for a case to which you are not even a party may seem exorbitant. But despite going to such lengths, you can still be found in contempt if you miss agreed upon production deadlines.
That was the outcome of In re Fannie Mae Securities Litigation, which the D.C. Circuit decided Jan. 6. In one of the few appellate cases addressing e-discovery, the appeals court upheld a district court decision finding the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) in contempt for failing to meet its e-discovery deadline, even though the agency spent $6 million attempting to comply.
