Opinion
15-cv-08153 (PGG)
11-19-2021
U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, as successor to Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, as Trustee for the Registered Holders of Citigroup Commercial Mortgage Trust 2007-C6, Commercial Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates, Series 2007-C6, acting by and through Its Special Servicer LNR PARTNERS, LLC, Plaintiff, v. BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., Defendant.
VENABLE LLP Gregory A. Cross Colleen Mallon Casse (pro hac vice) Attorneys for Plaintiff WINSTON & STRAWN LLP Luke A. Connelly 200 Park Avenue Attorney for Defendant
VENABLE LLP Gregory A. Cross Colleen Mallon Casse (pro hac vice) Attorneys for Plaintiff
WINSTON & STRAWN LLP Luke A. Connelly 200 Park Avenue Attorney for Defendant
STIPULATION FOR THE EXCHANGE OF ELECTRONICALLY STORED INFORMATION
Paul G. Gardephe United States District Judge
The following procedures and obligations for the exchange and production of electronically stored information (“ESI”) are hereby STIPULATED AND AGREED by and between the parties hereto, through undersigned counsel:
1. General Applicability and Modification
(a) If a provision of this agreement (the “ESI Stipulation”) conflicts with the terms of the Stipulated Confidentiality Agreement and Protective Order (the “Confidentiality Stipulation”) previously entered in this action, the Confidentiality Stipulation will control absent further order of the court.
(b) Should either party determine in good faith that it cannot proceed as required by this ESI Stipulation, the parties agree to meet and confer to resolve any dispute. Should the Parties be unable to resolve any such issue, they may then seek the Court's assistance.
(c) This ESI Stipulation shall also govern productions made by any third party who is subpoenaed in this action, unless otherwise agreed to by the issuing party and the third party. Accordingly, this ESI Stipulation should be attached to any subpoena issued in this action.
2. Format of Files for Production
(a) Digitized Paper Documents:
(i) Documents originally in paper/physical form will be digitized into single-page, group IV (G4) format, black and white TIFF files at 300 dpi and be 8 ½ x 11 inch page size, except for documents requiring higher resolution or different page size.
(ii) In scanning paper documents, distinct documents should not be merged into a single record, and single documents should not be split into multiple records (i.e., paper documents should be logically unitized). The Parties will make their best efforts to have their vendors unitize documents correctly and will commit to address situations where there are improperly unitized documents.
(iii) Every filename will match the document's Bates number, and be zero padded with no blank spaces; i.e., D000000001 (Defendant's Bate Stamp Page 1, P000820009 (Plaintiff's Bate Stamp Page 000820009);
(iv) The Parties will include with each production delivery an archival image link file as agreed (i.e., an Opticon (.OPT) file or similar).
(v) The Parties will include standard Concordance default delimited text files as agreed in .DAT or similar format, and will include all available fielding data, including but not limited to: (1) beginning and ending Bates numbers, (2) beginning and ending attachment numbers, (3) number of pages, and (4) source location/custodian.
(vi) The parties will apply Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to all applicable documents and create document level OCR-searchable files in .TXT format fordocument. The OCR software should be set to the highest quality setting during processing. The file name of each such .TXT file should correspond to the file name of the first image file of the document with which it is associated. The text files will not contain the redacted portions of the documents.
(b) Documents Originating Electronically:
Standard electronic documents, emails, and presentations will be produced as TIFF images in the manner described above in Paragraph 2(a); however, all attachments, addendums, enclosures, and/or exhibits to a parent documents will be produced and identified as they relate to the respective parent document.
(i) Digital documents will be produced with corresponding .TXT files as outlined above in Paragraph 2(a), as well as extracted metadata fields (where available), as agreed and set forth in the Metadata Table contained in Appendix A below.
(ii) All TIFF files are to be provided with an accompanying searchable text (.TXT) file extracted from the native, electronic file (not generated as an OCR file from the TIFF image(s)), and such text files shall contain the full text extraction. To the extent reasonably feasible, extracted text shall provide all comments, tracked changes, speaker's notes, and text from hidden worksheets, slides, columns and rows. In the case of files with redacted text, OCR'd text of the redacted documents may be provided in lieu of extracted text. OCR software should be set to the highest quality setting during processing.
(iii) Extracted text, as opposed to OCR text, delivered with production and formatted in .TXT file as above with OCR text files.
(iv) The Parties will produce the following ESI types in native file format: (1) Excel spreadsheets, (2) audio/visual files, and (3) PowerPoint presentations. Any documents produced in native file format will be produced according to the following specifications:
• A unique Bates number and confidentiality designation shall be used as the file name and the original file name and file extension shall be preserved in the corresponding load file.
• The native file format documents shall be accompanied by reference information that sets forth for each document, sufficient information to allow the Parties to track and authenticate the native format documents produced, including: (i) the name of the custodian from whose files the electronic file is produced; (ii) an appropriately calculated "MD-5 Hash Value"; (iii) the original name of the file; and (iv) a Bates number.
• Any file produced in native format need not be imaged. Instead, a single page placeholder image shall be provided that indicates the file was produced in native format and contains the Bates number and Confidentiality designation of the corresponding file.
(v) The Parties agree to meet and confer regarding the production format for any databases or other structured data that are not easily convertible to TIFF images and/or require specialized software to view and/or process the responsive data.
3. Deduplication (Global)
(a) Each Party will de-duplicate ESI globally for exact duplicate documents (based on MD5 or SHA-1 hash values at the parent document level). This will result in the Producing Party producing only a single copy of responsive Duplicate ESI, provided that all other custodians of the Duplicate ESI are listed in the "Duplicate Custodians" (or similar name) field. The Parties shall de-duplicate stand-alone documents against stand-alone documents and shall de-duplicate top-level email documents against top-level email documents. De-duplication shall not break apart families. Common system and program files as defined by the NIST library need not be processed, reviewed or produced.
(b) The Parties will retain all de-duplicated documents for the duration of the action or as agreed.
4. Confidentiality Designations and ESI From Other Individuals/Entities:
The Parties will designate documents as confidential or otherwise according to the terms of the Confidentiality Stipulation.
5. Proprietary or Third Party Software
To the extent that information produced pursuant to this Protocol cannot be rendered or viewed without the use of proprietary or third-party software, the Parties shall meet and confer to minimize any expense or burden associated with the production of such information in an acceptable format.
6. Production Media
The Parties shall produce documents electronically via a secure File Transfer Protocol (“FTP”) rather than through physical media (e.g., CD, DVD, or hard drive), unless such electronic transmission is impracticable, or the otherwise Parties agree on a different method of transmission. The produced documents shall be password protected and/or encrypted.
Dated: November 18, 2021
SO ORDERED.