Wachtel v. Health Net
United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
239 F.R.D. 81 (2006)
- Written by Rich Walter, JD
Facts
Zev and Linda Wachtel joined other policyholders (plaintiffs) in a federal-court lawsuit against their insurer, Health Net, Inc. (defendant). Health Net greatly increased the cost and duration of electronic discovery (e-discovery) by deliberately concealing key information about the range of relevant electronically stored information (ESI) in its possession, covering up the shoddiness of its search for that ESI, and withholding or spoliating relevant ESI. Throughout the five-year duration of e-discovery, the court issued over 165 orders and opinions designed to expedite the discovery process, but Health Net deliberately misinterpreted or simply ignored any order with which it disagreed. The court granted the policyholders’ motion to consider what sanctions were within the court’s inherent power to preserve the integrity of the judicial process and appropriate under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Hochberg, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 806,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.