Scheindlin retracts metadata ruling.

• Position: E-DISCOVERY

Federal Judge Shira Scheindlin has retracted a recent 27-page opinion that extended the boundaries of metadata produced by government agencies in response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

Scheindlin's previously filed court opinion involved the case Nat'l Day Laborer Org. Network v. United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency and stated that the metadata maintained by an organization as part of an electronic record is assumed to be producible under FOIA unless the organization can prove the data is not "readily reproducible."

Her February opinion also specified guidelines on the minimum amount of metadata that should accompany any "significant collection of ESI [electronically stored information]."

Scheindlin said "subsequent submissions" caused her to conclude that her prior decision "was not based on a full and developed record." The 100-word reversal, entered June 17, invalidated the February ruling and as a result has muddied the state of several important e-discovery issues, according to the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists.

Scheindiin's withdrawal was seen as a victory for the government because the ruling had affixed a heavy obligation of providing metadata in public requests to FOIA. She noted in her June reversal ruling that the federal agencies, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, and other immigration groups that had sued for alleged noncompliance with the FOIA request had "recently resolved their dispute regarding the form and format in which records will be produced." Her reversal came just one day after the parties announced the agreement and after a motion by the government to stay implementation of Scheindlin's February orders.

The government has maintained that...