From eLaw Exchange via Michael Arkfeld’s Electronic Discovery and Evidence:

(D)efendant argued that the plaintiff was responsible for the costs for producing electronic data. In a review of New York law the Court found that the producing party had the obligation to produce ESI and the cost would be borne by the producing party, including the review cost cost. However, the Court noted that the production of “deleted” ESI may lead to a different result…

Electronic Discovery and Evidence – New York State Rules that Electronic Discovery Production Costs Must Be Borne by Producing Party

eLaw Exchange – MBIA Ins. Corp. v. Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., 2010 NY Slip Op 50199U, 10 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. Jan. 14, 2010)

Over at the ABA Books Brief Blog, you can read an excerpt of Electronic Evidence and Discovery: What Every Lawyer Should Know Now, Second Edition, by Michele C.S. Lange and Kristin M. Nimsger.

Cost Allocation for E-Discovery

The price tag connected to an electronic discovery project can be significant, depending on the circumstances of the case. Not surprisingly, some of the most intense arguments ensue over which party should bear the costs associated with e-discovery. All courts have the authority to require a party requesting discovery to pay the costs that will be incurred by the responding party; it is in the court’s discretion whether to exercise this authority, and under what circumstances…

I have been following this same argument conversation on the litsupport listserv as well, but I thought Tom O’Connor has summed it up pretty well in the following post:

There has been a fascinating thread on the Lit Support ListServ this week that was started by the following post.  “Why is EDD and Data Processing So Expensive, why can’t IT or my secretary do this ? I know that we have all been faced with this so I am wondering if anyone  can point me to a few good references, as I want to write a document that the average person can read and understand. This will help from having to explain this 300 times a year…”