The Dallas Court of Appeals granted a petition for writ of mandamus in a case in which the trial court ordered production of a personal computer hard drive and e-mail account.
Misty Jordan sued Gajekse, Inc. alleging that she was subjected to a hostile work environment and then fired for reporting it. The trial court signed an order compelling Jordan to permit Gajekse’s forensics examiner to access her personal computer to look for pornagraphic material (Jordan had asserted she had never seen pornography until she became employed by Gajekse), and to examine her e-mail.
The court of appeals granted the petition for writ of mandamus, noting that the discovery order failed to comply with the Texas Supreme Court’s opinion in In re Weekly Homes, LP, in several respects: (1) failure to make a specific request for the information and specify the form of production; (2) failure to demonstrate the specific characteristics of the electronic storage devices; (3) the familiarity of the expert with those characteristics; and (4) a showing of a reasonable likelihood that the search would yield the information sought. Because of the court’s disposition of the case, it expressly did not address Jordan’s contention that Gajekse was seeking irrelevant information. The court’s opinion in In re Jordan may be found here.