Ramos v. Hopele of Fort Lauderdale, LLC
Ramos v. Hopele of Fort Lauderdale, LLC
Case Date: | 03/19/2018 |
Citation: | 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44327 |
Court Type: | Federal District |
Court: | Southern District of Florida (S.D. Fla.) |
Judge: | Federal Magistrate Judge: Barry S. Seltzer |
Rule(s): | Rule 26(b)(1) |
Issues: | The Plaintiff asserted in a class-action suit that the Defendant had violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by sending unsolicited text messages. The Defendant filed a motion to compel the forensic examination of the Plaintiff’s cell phone. The Defendant asserted that the examination was needed to recover metadata from the Plaintiff’s phone after she had deleted the text messages. The Plaintiff responded that forensic examination would not be proportional and not be relevant to any claims or defenses. |
Resolution: | The court denied the motion. The court held that the Defendant did specify how the metadata would be relevant to any claims and defenses. Even with the deletion of the texts, the metadata was not relevant to establish possession and control of the messages as the parties agreed as an undisputed fact that the Defendant had created and sent the messages. Further, the metadata was irrelevant to prove injury-of act under the TCPA as the receipt of an unsolicited text message alone constitutes injury under the TCPA. |
Relevant Documents: | Defendant’s Motion to Compel Forensic Examination of Plaintiff’s Cell Phone (Doc. 44) Plaintiff’s Response in Opposition to Defendant’s Motion to Compel (Doc. 47) Defendant’s Reply in Support of Its Motion to Compel Forensic Examination (Doc. 53) |
E-Discovery Issues: | Motion for Forensic Inspection, Motion to Compel |
E-discovery Tags: | Data Recovery, Forensic Analysis/Examination, Metadata, Relevancy |
E-discovery subjects: | Cell phone, Text message |