Also known as: reasonably useable
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A form of electronically stored information from which the requesting party can obtain the information directly or, if necessary, after translation by the responding party. The form must permit effective review and use without specialized tools unavailable to the recipient.
Raymond Ramos served requests for production on Reliance Insurance seeking customer account histories stored in fragmented legacy backups. Reliance objected that restoring the files would require extensive IT work. The court ordered production after Reliance translated the data into searchable spreadsheets that Raymond could review without specialized software.
Rita Russell requested internal enforcement logs from a federal agency that existed only as dense machine-readable code. The agency offered raw exports plus basic guidance. The court compelled production in standard readable formats because the raw files prevented Rita from searching or analyzing the records effectively.
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The responding party must translate the information into a reasonably usable form that the requesting party can review and use directly. Production of raw code or fragmented files does not satisfy the obligation when the recipient lacks the tools to interpret them.
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No. The rule permits production in the form ordinarily maintained only when that form is reasonably usable by the requesting party. If the ordinary format prevents effective use, the responding party must provide a translated version instead.
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No. The obligation to produce in a reasonably usable form places the translation burden on the responding party when the information is within its control. Routine internal capabilities to convert data demonstrate that the required translation is feasible.
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