Plaintiffs Not Required to Produce Complete Forensic Image of Devices in Social Media MDL

SAN FRANCISCO — A magistrate judge in the federal MDL for social media injury cases has ruled that the personal injury plaintiffs are not required to produce a complete forensic image of the bellwether plaintiff’s devices, ruling that such discovery “is overbroad and not proportional to the needs of this case.”

In a July 19 order, Magistrate Judge Peter H. Kang of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California said that “the court is particularly cautious about the strong privacy interests implicated by accessing individuals’ cellphones.”

“Modern cellphones contain vast amounts of personal information, including private …