Opinion
No. C 05-5056 PJH (MEJ).
March 31, 2008
ORDER GRANTING ON A LIMITED BASIS PLAINTIFFS' REQUEST TO COMPEL PRODUCTION OF NATIVE DOCUMENTS
On November 26, 2007, the Court granted Plaintiffs for production of native documents on a limited basis. (Doc. #90.) However, the Court ordered Plaintiffs to identify particular documents by Bates Number and identify a particularized need for each document. If Defendant was then unwilling or unable to produce those documents in native format, the Court ordered the parties to meet and confer in an effort to resolve the dispute.
Now before the Court is the parties' further joint meet and confer letter, dated March 14, 2008 (Doc. #96), in which Plaintiffs request that Defendant produce 50,965 spreadsheets in native format. Although Plaintiffs argue that the native documents may, in general, make searching and manipulating data easier, the Court finds that Plaintiffs have not shown a particularized need for each document. Therefore, the Court DENIES Plaintiffs' request. However, if Plaintiffs still desire the documents in native format, they may request Defendant produce them at Plaintiffs' expense.