Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
The conversion of electronically stored information stored in any medium into a reasonably usable form when the information cannot be obtained directly.
Theodore Tucker served a Rule 34 request on Titan Industries seeking temperature logs stored only as compressed data streams on company servers. Titan produced the files in their native compressed state, which Tucker could not open or review without specialized software. The court ordered Titan to perform the necessary conversion so that the logs became readable and usable for the litigation.
Tristan Thompson requested archived server logs from Triumph Manufacturing that existed only in a proprietary unreadable format held by a third-party vendor. Triumph argued the format was how the data was ordinarily maintained. The court required Triumph to restore and convert the backups into a form Thompson could actually use.
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Tobias Thomas sought electronic health records and medication logs from Twin Rivers Bank that resided in a combined multi-patient system. The bank objected that isolating the relevant entries required custom queries. The court directed the bank to extract and convert the data into a usable electronic format for Thomas.
Travis Tate requested source code repositories and chat logs from Threshold Capital stored in legacy proprietary backups. Threshold offered only high-level summary reports. The court compelled Threshold to translate the underlying data into readable files that Tate could examine directly.
Taliah Tang requested global quality-control databases from a defendant whose servers were located overseas. The defendant claimed extraction and conversion would be prohibitively expensive. The court limited the order to relevant subsets but still required the defendant to render those portions into a usable form.
Thomas Thompson sought sensor data and incident reports stored as raw binary dumps in a vehicle's onboard systems. The manufacturer produced only the unreadable files. The court ordered the manufacturer to convert the data into timelines and annotated images that Thomas could analyze.
A responding party must translate electronically stored information when the data cannot be obtained directly in a reasonably usable form. The obligation arises under Rule 34 whenever the requesting party cannot review or use the information as produced. Courts enforce this duty to ensure meaningful access during discovery.
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The responding party ordinarily bears the cost of translating its own electronically stored information into a usable form. Cost shifting is an exceptional remedy available only upon a showing of undue burden. The rule places the mechanical burden of production on the party that controls the data.
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Production in compressed or proprietary format satisfies the rule only if the requesting party can still obtain the information directly. When the format renders the data inaccessible without specialized tools, the responding party must perform the necessary translation. Courts reject the argument that ordinary business format excuses the duty to make information usable.
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Requests for translation remain subject to proportionality limits under Rule 26. A court may narrow overly broad requests that seek conversion of entire foreign databases or marginally relevant material. The duty to translate applies only to information that is relevant and within the responding party's control.
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…and who typified the sum of the medical knowledge of the past?[^maj-13] The Oath varies somewhat according to the particular translation, but in any translation the content is clear: "I will give no deadly medicine to anyone if asked, nor suggest any such counsel; and in like manner I will not give to a woman a pessary to…