What eDiscovery geek doesn’t love case law? If you do, here is the 2022 eDiscovery Case Law Year in Review Report from eDiscovery Assistant!

The 2022 eDiscovery Case Law Year in Review Report opens with a bit of a surprise: the number of eDiscovery decisions actually dropped this year for the first time ever – from 5,119 cases in 2021 to 4,721 cases in 2022. Why? Part of the reason may be that the volume of cases filed in the U.S. district courts declined 33 percent in 2022. Comparatively, eDiscovery decisions only dropped 7.77 percent, so the number would likely have risen again this year if we had a comparable number of cases.

Regardless, the number of cases in 2022 is still twice the number of cases in 2019. That says a lot – even with a downturn this year.

The 33-page report (available for download FREE here) includes an Introduction, a summary of the top issues in eDiscovery, and a focus on an analysis of how specific issues are developing in the courts, which is broken up into two parts: Takeaways from 2022 (with a deep dive into Proportionality, Mobile Device Discovery, Search Terms and Technology Assisted Review) and Key Areas to Watch.

As for the top issues, the superset category “Failure to Produce” is the top issue (by far) with 2,514 decisions. So many decisions involve disputes over actual or perceived failure to produce, it’s almost a given than many disputes will include this category. That’s why I tend to dismiss this category.

As for the next four categories, they are: Proportionality (1,330 decisions), Sanctions (1,315 decisions), Third Party Subpoena (930 decisions) and Protective Order (910 decisions). I find it interesting that:

• Decisions involving Proportionality once again exceed those involving Sanctions. That trend indicates just how prominent Proportionality disputes have become.
• Third Party Subpoenas and Protective Orders have become so prominent, which tells me that parties are going to other sources more for the evidence they need, and that privacy and confidentiality protection have increased in importance.

The 2022 eDiscovery Case Law Year in Review Report is (once again) full of information and is a “must read” for every eDiscovery professional. Get your copy here!

BTW, eDiscovery Assistant just celebrated their 100th episode of the ACEDS #caseoftheweek, where eDiscovery Assistant Founder Kelly Twigger was joined by David Horrigan, Discovery Counsel and Legal Education Director at Relativity! You can catch the 100th episode here!

So, what do you think? Are you surprised by any of the trends illustrated by the 2022 eDiscovery Case Law Year in Review Report? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by my employer, my partners or my clients. eDiscovery Today is made available solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscovery Today should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.