Insights
Client Alert
Third Circuit Limits Recoverable E-Discovery Costs
April 03, 2012
BY CARLA R. WALWORTH & MOR WETZLER
E-discovery continues to drive up the cost of litigation, with vendor fees in the six or seven figures not uncommon in hotly contested cases. Addressing a split among district courts, the Third Circuit refused recovery of e-discovery vendor costs for a prevailing party as statutory taxable costs and permitted recovery of only a small amount for "making copies." This decision highlights the necessity of addressing cost-shifting up front in litigation, rather than as taxable costs at the end of the suit.