A. Mark Getachew and Denora Getachew v. L&S Investments, LLC, Lawrence Rutkowski, and Eric D. Grayson

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of Connecticut granted Defendant Eric D. Grayson’s motion to compel Plaintiff A. Mark Getachew to produce relevant, nonprivileged emails from his Willkie Farr & Gallagher work account. The court held that the plaintiff had sufficient possession, custody, or control over archived emails and ordered production of responsive emails dated October 21, 2020, through the present, subject to specified ESI search terms. The court required compliance by March 6, 2026.

Holdings

1. The plaintiff had sufficient possession, custody, or control over personal emails maintained in his employer's archived email system because he retained the legal right and practical ability to request and obtain them, notwithstanding that the firm's IT department maintained the archive.
2. Good cause supported permitting limited discovery concerning the work emails after the discovery deadline.
3. The defendant did not waive the right to seek the work emails because the motion concerned ESI previously sought from the plaintiff and addressed through the court's discovery orders, rather than merely the narrower request made in the earlier subpoena to Willkie Farr.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the defendant was entitled to compel production of responsive, nonprivileged emails from the plaintiff's work email account even though some emails were archived and maintained by the plaintiff's law-firm employer.
2. Whether the court should permit limited discovery concerning the work emails after the discovery deadline had passed.
3. Whether the defendant waived the right to seek the work emails by failing to compel compliance with an earlier subpoena served on the plaintiff's employer.

Disposition

other