In a recent decision, the Federal Court upheld Farmers Edge’s right to recover electronic document hosting fees related to its use of the Relativity platform, rejecting AGI’s argument that these costs were unjustified.
AGI claimed that Farmers Edge deliberately withheld documents from its Relativity database as a litigation tactic, inflating AGI’s costs. However, the court found little support for this claim. AGI relied on a single email exchange where Farmers Edge refused to provide additional load files for documents already produced, citing unnecessary expense and effort.
Farmers Edge countered that most electronically hosted documents had been produced in an agreed-upon e-discovery format, including productions from related litigation in Nebraska. The court agreed, determining that electronic hosting fees were a reasonable disbursement under the circumstances.
As a result, the court approved Farmers Edge’s claim for $1,777,435 in e-discovery costs, reinforcing the principle that properly managed electronic document hosting expenses are a legitimate part of modern litigation.