When you have a party whose Facebook information could reveal valuable information which is pertinent to your case, it
is important to know whether you can discover this private information or not. Despite being pervasive among adults of
all ages, discoverability of social media is still a developing area of law and is likely to evolve in
the coming years. Here is the current law in Illinois and Missouri:

In Illinois, a parties’ private Facebook posts and photographs are not discoverable unless they are relevant or likely
to lead to relevant information in a case. Relevant evidence is “evidence having any tendency to make the existence of
any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more or less probable that it would be without the
evidence.” See Illinois Rules of Evidence 401. While there is little Illinois case law which discusses the parameters of
Facebook specific discovery, in 2016 a U.S. Northern District of Illinois judge, applying Federal law,
limited a Defendant’s Facebook production request when it was not sufficiently relevant or limited in scope. See Maochun
Ye v. Cliff Veissman, (1:14-cv- 01531).

In Missouri, a court may compel production of a party’s information if the request is relevant and not overly broad and
burdensome. See State ex rel. Upjohn Co. v. Dalton, 829 S.W.2d 83 (Mo. App. E.D., 1992). It is important
for the requesting party to narrowly confine their discovery requests to specific dates, times, and subject matter-
especially when it comes to Facebook. In essence, when a request “goes beyond a mere fishing
expedition, [and] it seems designed to ‘drain the pond and collect the fish from the bottom’” it will likely not be
found producible by the court. See In re IBM Peripheral EDP Devices Antitrust Litigation, 77 F.R.D. 39, 42
(N.D.Cal.1977) (citing Dalton at 85).

Gary Burger

Founder | Injury Attorney
Gary Burger has dedicated his career to standing up against bullies. The founder and principal attorney of Burger Law | St. Louis Personal Injury Lawyer has helped hundreds of Missouri and Illinois individuals and families recover th …
Years of experience: 30 years
Location: St. Louis, MO

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