Sample Motion to Compel

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS
EASTERN DIVISION

PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO COMPEL DEFENDANT’S

PRODUCTION OF LAPTOP COMPUTER AND USB DEVICES

NOW COMES the Plaintiff, XYZ GROUP, INC. (“XYZ”), and moves this Court pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(a) to enter an order compelling Defendant Susan Currier to produce her laptop computer and any external “USB” hard drives or flash (“thumb”) drives used by her in connection with XYZ business, as requested in XYZ’s Requests for Production No. 3 and No. 4.¹ In support of its motion, XYZ states as follows:

1. On July 7, 2009, XYZ filed a Complaint for Injunctive and Other Relief, alleging violation of the Illinois Trade Secrets Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and a breach of Defendant’s employment contract.²

2. This matter stems from Defendant’s inappropriate conduct which included, among other acts, the intentional stealing of XYZ’s confidential engineering plans for products currently in development.

3. On March 5, 2009, Defendant was dismissed from her employment at XYZ as Lead Engineer. Shortly after her departure, XYZ computer technicians examined Defendant’s work computer, used by her on a daily basis during her seven years of employment at XYZ. The technicians discovered a complete lack of user-specific files that should have been present on Defendant’s computer due to normal use. This lack of files suggests that someone intentionally deleted files relating to Defendant’s user profile.

4. The technicians also discovered a record, or “log file,” of files accessed on XYZ computer servers from Defendant’s work computer. This record showed that, on February 4, the day before Defendant’s termination, the computer was used to access and copy forty-seven (47) files containing engineering diagrams of XYZ products currently in development. This action was beyond Defendant’s authorized use of XYZ computer systems. Defendant would normally not copy plans to her local machine but would rather work on copies maintained on XYZ computer servers.

5. Forensic examination of Defendant’s work computer produced a list of three USB devices that…

DISCLAIMER: This document is intended to be used as an example of a motion to compel discovery of electronically stored information. It is not intended to represent legal advice. This document contains fictional data. Any similarity to actual events or persons is purely coincidental.