The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has sent back to district court a $310,000 bill for discovery costs that University of Pittsburgh Medical Center lodged against a class of employees whose class certification was later decertified.
In a ruling that rejected the hospital’s claim that “digital duplication” is the functional equivalent of making copies, Senior Judge Franklin Van Antwerpen said the court did not have enough information to know whether the costs related to the ESI, or “electronically stored information,” aspect of the litigation’s discovery were the type of activities that could be taxed against the plaintiffs under the narrow construction of 28 U.S.C. Section 1920(4), which allows certain costs to be levied against the unsuccessful parties.
