Chang was terminated from his employment at Infinite Energy, Inc., for allegedly leaking confidential information to competitors. Litigation ensued, and during discovery Infinite requested access to all of Chang’s e-mail accounts. Although Chang turned over e-mails from his work account, he refused to turn over e-mails from his private e-mail account with Yahoo! Infinite claimed that the private e-mails were essential to its case, and Chang contended that the e-mails were confidential and unrelated to his employment and, therefore, not within the scope of discovery.

CASE QUESTIONS

1. Who prevails and why?

2. Is this information necessary for Infinite’s case? Why or why not?