Nucor Corp. v. Bell
Nucor Corp. v. Bell, 251 F.R.D. 191 (2008). Decided in D.S.C..
- COURT
- D.S.C.
- DECIDED
- 2008
- CITATION
- 251 F.R.D. 191
- OUTCOME
- Admitted in part
- STANDARD
- Daubert / Rule 702
- CITED BY
- 33 later opinions (CourtListener)
This opinion records the court's earlier rulings on both parties' Daubert motions against each other's computer-forensics experts: both experts' testimony satisfied Rule 702 and Daubert, except that the defendants' motion was granted to the extent the plaintiff's expert offered opinions on two named wiping programs.
Every entry in this docket was written from the opinion itself, and this is the copy that was read. If the opinion does not support what is written here, the entry is wrong — tell us and it will be corrected or removed rather than softened.
READ THE OPINIONNucor Corp. v. Bell, 251 F.R.D. 191↗COURTLISTENER · FREE LAW PROJECT · OPENS IN THE SAME TAB
The court’s reasoning
The court treated an EnCase bit-for-bit forensic copy as a reliable method, noting that many authorities, including the Sedona Conference, recognise it as a reliable tool for making an exact copy of a hard drive. The plaintiff's expert therefore had a reliable duplicate to analyse, and the plaintiff offered only unsupported speculation that the duplicate was not a true copy.
From the opinion
“Before the hard drive failed, McLinden made a forensic copy using EnCase, which many authorities — including the Sedona Conference — recognize as a reliable tool for making an exact copy of a hard drive.”
Grounds argued
This ruling turned on 2 of the eight arguments that recur across the docket. Each is defined the same way on every entry, so the same ground can be followed across rulings that reached opposite results.
- Tool reliability
- Whether the software or hardware used — an imaging tool, a carving engine, an extraction platform — produces accurate results, and whether the examiner can say how that is known. Courts rarely require a tool to be validated from first principles, but they do expect the examiner to know its limits.
- Methodology
- Whether the steps the examiner took are a recognised way of answering the question asked, and whether they were followed as described. Most digital-forensics rulings turn on this rather than on anything the field would call science.
Practice note
Terms used on this page
Every term below is defined in the forensic glossary — what it is, why a case turns on it, and what happens in the matter when it is mishandled.
Rulings on the same grounds
One ruling is not a rule. These are the other entries in the docket argued on the same grounds, most-cited first — including the ones that came out the other way, which are the ones worth reading before relying on this entry for anything.
ON TOOL RELIABILITY
- Krause v. State 243 S.W.3d 95 (2007) ADMITTED
- United States v. Chiaradio 684 F.3d 265 (2012) ADMITTED
- United States v. Hill 818 F.3d 289 (2016) ADMITTED
- In re Digital Music Antitrust Litigation 321 F.R.D. 64 (2017) ADMITTED
ON METHODOLOGY
- Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals 509 U.S. 579 (1993) ADMITTED
- Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael 526 U.S. 137 (1999) EXCLUDED
- General Electric Co. v. Joiner 522 U.S. 136 (1997) EXCLUDED
- Wellogix v. Accenture 716 F.3d 867 (2013) ADMITTED
If an opinion in your case has to survive the argument this ruling turned on — or you need one tested before it is served — Law & Forensics retains court-tested digital forensic expert witnesses and forensic neutrals.
A conflicts check and scoping call follow, normally within one business day. Please do not send privileged or case-sensitive material until conflicts have cleared.
- The Daubert Docket
All 55 rulings, filterable by ground, outcome and court, with the distribution across the three outcomes reported up front.
- Daubert and digital evidence
The argument this docket is the evidence for: why an opinion stated one level too strongly is an admissibility problem under Rule 702(d).
- Daubert Exposure Check
Twelve questions about an expert's methodology, mapped to the failure modes these rulings keep finding, with the remediation for each gap.
- Daubert or Frye?
Which reliability test your forum applies — settle that before relying on a ruling from another jurisdiction.
Attorney advertising / expert services. Each entry summarises a decision as it appeared in the opinion linked from that entry, on the day the entry was written. Decisions are reversed, vacated, superseded, and distinguished, and the text of Federal Rule of Evidence 702 was itself amended effective 1 December 2023 — check the current status and subsequent history of any ruling before relying on it. Nothing here is legal advice, none of it is a prediction about how any court will rule, and it is not a substitute for the rules, standing orders and case law of your own forum.