Poor E-Discovery compared to standup comic who delivers the punch-lines of his jokes first

From the Legal Times Blog - The now famous Lamberth Opinion. Here is an excerpt:

I. Introduction

Imagine a standup comic who delivers the punch-lines of his jokes first, a plane with landing gear that deploys just after touchdown, or a stick of dynamite with a unique fuse that ignites only after it explodes. That’s what document production after trial is like—it defeats the purpose. Yet, the District’s Motion would have this Court bless its decision to violate multiple Court orders, ignore the Federal Rules’ carefully calibrated discovery apparatus, and produce thousands of responsive e-mails after trial ended. A discovery violation of this exotic magnitude is literally unheard of in this Court, and when—on the first day of trial—the District’s plan was revealed, this Court held that the District had waived objections (including privileges) with regard to all of the unproduced e-mail and ordered it to produce them all within one week of the Case 1:05-cv-01437-RCL Document 247-1 Filed 05/09/11 Page 1 of 182 close of trial. Before the Court now is the District’s Motion to reconsider that Order. After exploring the relevant aspects of this case’s factual background, the Court will explain its reasons for denying the District’s Motion...

Read the full opinion here:
legaltimes.typepad.com/files/lamberth-opinion.pdf