Ralph C. Losey, Attorney

Ralph in May 2009

Akerman Senterfitt

Address: Suite 1200
420 S. Orange Ave.
Orlando, Florida 32801-4904
Phone: (407) 423-4000
Fax: (407) 843-6610
Email: ralph.losey@akerman.com

Practice Areas:

Electronic Discovery and IT Law
Qui Tam False Claim Act

Other Legal Work:

Adjunct Professor of Law:
University of Florida College of Law: Introduction to Electronic Discovery; and, Advanced e-Discovery Seminar.
Books:
Electronic Discovery: New Ideas, Trends, Case Law, and Practices West Thomson (2010).

Introduction to e-Discovery: New Cases, Ideas, and Techniques

American Bar Association

e-Discovery: Current Trends and Cases

American Bar Association

Your Cyber Rights and Responsibilities: The Law of the Internet,

McMillian Publishers

Law Review Articles:

Mancia v. Mayflower Begins a Pilgrimage to the New World of Cooperation

Lawyers Behaving Badly: Understanding Unprofessional Conduct in e-Discovery

Computer Hash: the New Bates Stamp

e-Discovery Team Blog. http://ralphlosey.wordpress.com/ Updated weekly; 7,000 views per week.
Public Speaker: See list of recent presentations below.

Recognition:

Martindale-Hubbell AV Peer Review Rating.
Florida SuperLawyer in the field of IT/Outsourcing.
Certified Computer Law Mediator, The Florida Bar (1989).
Certified Arbitrator, Orange County Bar Association (1989).
Who's Who in American Law (since 1985).

Professional Experience:

Ralph Losey is a shareholder of Akerman Senterfitt, Founder and Chair of Akerman's Electronic Discovery and IT Law practice group, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Florida College of Law teaching e-discovery and advanced e-discovery. Ralph is the most prolific author of e-discovery in the industry, having written three books and three law review articles in the past three years. His newest book will be published by West Thomson in 2010, entitled Electronic Discovery: New Ideas, Trends, Case Law, and Practices (West 2010). He has previously written the American Bar Association's feature books on electronic discovery for 2008 and 2009: Introduction to e-Discovery, (ABA 2009); and, e-Discovery: Current Trends and Cases (ABA 2008). Ralph is also the author of the well known law review article on the mathematics underlying e-discovery: HASH: the New Bates Stamp, 12 Journal of Technology Law & Policy 1 (June 2007). In early 2009 he wrote an article on the ethics underlying e-discovery: Lawyers Behaving Badly: Understanding Unprofessional Conduct in e-Discovery, 60 Mercer L. Rev. 983 (Spring 2009). His most recent law review article was written for The Sedona Conference, Mancia v. Mayflower Begins a Pilgrimage to the New World of Cooperation, The Sedona Conference Journal (Winter 2009), on an important new collaborative approach to discovery.

Ralph is also the principle author and publisher of a popular weekly blog on e-discovery, e-Discovery Team Blog, which now averages over 400,000 visits per year.

Ralph entered private practice in Orlando in 1980. Prior to becoming a shareholder at Akerman, he was a shareholder with Subin, Shams, Rosenbluth, Moran, Losey and Brennan, P.A., where, in addition to practicing law, he was in charge of the firm's computer systems for over 15 years.

Ralph has a long history in commercial litigation in both state and federal court, with an emphasis on technology-related issues, ERISA disputes, and Qui Tam government fraud cases. His experience includes one of the largest e-discovery cases in Central Florida in the 1990s, and more recently, one of largest Qui Tam pharmaceutical fraud cases in the country. More detailed information on these cases can be provded upon request.

Ralph has unique practical experience as a computer user and amateur programmer going back to 1978. He has worked with mainframes, minicomputers, Macs and PCs, utilizing all applications imaginable, and creating and designing software in the 1980s and Internet websites in the 1990s. Ralph was the first lawyer in Central Florida to have a computer on his desk, the first to use Westlaw, and the first lawyer in Florida with an Internet website. He was also a pioneer in the field of Computer Law, dating back to the early 1980s where he developed special expertise in computer database protection, software licensing, and later, Internet law; see for instance, The Legal Protection of Computer Databases, Florida Bar Journal (1991). Ralph has also worked with high-tech start-up companies, where he helped develop a food service database which later became the industry (IFDA) standard.

He has been involved in technology disputes of all kinds, including the widely publicized case concerning the private collection and sale of a database of all Florida drivers license photographs: Image Data, L.L.C. v. Sullivan, 739 So.2d 725 (5th DCA 1999), and the recent e-discovery spoliation adverse inference decision, Optowave Co., Ltd. v. Dmitri G. Nitikin, 2006 WL 3231422 and 2006 Lexis 81345 (M.D. Fla. November 7, 2006). He was also in the first group of attorneys to be certified by the Florida Supreme Court as a Mediator of Computer Law disputes in 1989, and has extensive experience in alternative dispute resolution.

Education:

University of Florida College of Law, Gainesville, FL, 1979, J.D. Honors.
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, B.A., 1973.
Institute of European Studies, Vienna, Austria, 1971-1972.

Bar Admissions:

1980, Florida.

Court Admissions:

U.S. District Court, Northern District of Florida.
U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida.
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida.
U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.
U.S. Supreme Court.

Professional Associations and Memberships:

The Florida Bar.
The Sedona Conference.
American Bar Association.
Federal Bar Association.
Orange County Bar Association.

Recent Continuing Legal Education Presentations:

Ethics Panel; Search Panel; Multimedia presentation; Georgetown 6th Annual Advanced E-Discovery Institute (Wash. D.C. Nov. 2009)
The Future of Search, Multi=media presentation; Presentation on Economic Search; Event Co-Chair with Jason Baron of the Capital One e-Discovery Search Conference (Wash. D.C.,November 2009)
Ethics Panel; Critical Cases Panel; West Thomson Reuters (Chicago, Oct. 2009).
Introduction to e-Discovery to the City of Miami Beach. (Oct. 2009).
Critical Cases Panel; Addressing the Challenges of New Technologies Panel; West Thomson Reuters (N.Y., Oct. 2009).
Local Rules Panel; Sedona Conference (Atlanta, Oct. 2009).
Competency Testing; last two days of the five day Georgetown e-Discovery Training Academy intensive training program (July 2009, Wash. D.C.).
New Developments in e-Discovery; Florida Attorney General's Economic Crimes Unit Annual Conference (2009, Orlando).
e-Discovery and Electronic Content Management; EMC Annual Writers Conference on Electronic Content Management (New York City, 2009).
Information Management Panel; EDRM Search Project Panel; Introduction to EDD Panel; Litigation Support Leaders Conference (2009 Wash. D.C.).
Latest Cases Panel; Forms of Production Panel; Ethics and Privilege Panel; Search Panel; Texas Bar Association Electronic and Digital Evidence (2009 Houston).
Latest Cases Panel; Ethics and e-Discovery Panel; ABA National Techshow (2009 Chicago).
Electronic Records Management and e-Discovery; Two Day Presentation to NASA with Jason Baron (2009, Cape Kennedy).
Competency Testing; last day of the five day Georgetown e-Discovery Training Academy intensive training program (February 2009, Wash. D.C.).
Cutting Edge Developments in Search and Retrieval Technologies; Georgetown Law 5th Annual Advanced E-Discovery Institute (2008, Wash. D.C.).
The Sedona Conference e-Discovery Evening; University of Florida School of Law (2008, Gainesville).
Lawyers Behaving Badly: An Explanation of Unethical Conduct in e-Discovery; Mercer law School Symposium on Ethics (2008, Macon, Georgia).
E-Discovery and Ethics; Annual Tampa Bench Bar Conference (2008, Tampa).
E-Discovery Teams; Masters Conference (2008, Washington D.C.).
Hospital Risk Management and Electronic Discovery; AIG Annual Client Advisory Board Meeting (2008, Boston).
E-Discovery/Patient Records Retention; Joint Annual Meeting of the Florida Academy of Healthcare Attorneys and Florida Healthcare Corporate Compliance Association (2008, Orlando)
Search and Economics - two panel presentations; Legal Tech (West Coast), ALM Event (2008, Los Angeles).
E-Discovery Team Solution; Legal Technology Exchange Conference (2008, Atlanta)
E-Discovery: Current Trends and Cases, Florida Attorney General - Economic Crimes Conference (2008, Orlando).
E-Discovery: An A-Z Workshop, West Legal Works (2008, Miami).
E-Discovery Teams: The New Gold Standard, Harvard Club e-Discovery Program, ALM Event (2008, New York City).
Corporate E-Discovery Teams, In-House Counsel Group, Jacksonville Bar Assoc. (2008, Jacksonville).
E-Discovery Panel Presentation, Lex Mundi North America Regional Conference Presentation (2008, Miami).

Representative Clients and Industries:

Samsung U.S.A.
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
Medical Staffing Networks
Fifth Third Bank
Harris Corporation
The National Companies
High Technology; Computer, Software and Internet Industries
Insurance Industry
Retail Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Industries
Health Care Industries
Military-Industrial Industries

Representative Cases:

See the list below of published decisions.

Unpublished cases of note include numerous computer law cases and the defense and prosecution of several billion dollar Qui Tam cases. More detailed information on these cases can be provded upon request.

Community Involvement:

Echoes of the Ancestors African Relief Foundation
Negro Spiritual Scholarship Foundation
Tee-Lo Junior Golf Foundation (2003 recipient
of Corporate Sponsor Award)
Winter Park High School Crew Boosters (Past President 2001)

Hobbies:

Computers, Internet, Dogs, Golf and Fishing.

Videos:

See link to You Tube at the bottom of the page for video on e-discovery.

Published Decisions:

Barron v. General Elec., No. 8:05-CV-1046-T-17MAP, 2006 WL 905514 (M.D. Fla.2006)
Baker v. Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Co., 371 F. Supp. 2d 1352 (M.D. Fla.2005)
Barchus v. Hartford Life and Accident Ins. Co., 320 F. Supp. 2d 1266 (M.D. Fla. 2004)
Belknap v. Hartford Life and Accident Ins. Co., 389 F. Supp. 2d 1320 (M.D. Fla. 2005)
Bird v. Eastman Kodak Co., 290 F. Supp. 2d 1117 (M.D. Fla. 2005)
Brevard Emergency Services v. EmCare, Inc., No. 6:04-CV-1892-ORL-28-JGG, 2005
WL 1074272 (M.D. Fla. 2005)
Chilton v. Prudential Ins. Co. of Am., 124 F. Supp. 2d 673 (M.D. Fla. 2000)
Chiroff v. Life Ins. Co. of N. Am., 142 F. Supp. 2d 1360 (S.D. Fla. 2000)
Clermont Builders Supply, Inc. v. General Const. & Design, Inc., 423 So. 2d 518 (Fla.5th DCA 1982)
Cohen v. Hardman, 416 So. 2d 498 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982)
Cook v. Theme Park Ventures, Inc., 633 So. 2d 468 (Fla. 5th DCA, 1994)
Crume v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., 417 F. Supp. 2d 1258 (M.D. Fla., Feb. 14, 2006)
Crume v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., 387 F. Supp. 2d 1212 (M.D. Fla. 2005)
Crume v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., 388 F. Supp. 2d 1342 (M.D. Fla. 2005)
Curran v. Abbott Laboratories Extended Disability Plan, 331 F. Supp. 2d 1376 (M.D. Fla. 2004)
Curran v. Abbott Laboratories Extended Disability Plan, 2005 WL 894840 at *8 (11th Cir. 2005), aff'g order granting summary judgment, 331 F. Supp. 2d 1376 (M.D. Fla. 2004)
Diaz v. Verizon Wireless Employee Benefits Committee, et al, 22 Fed.Appx. 879 (11th Cir. March 15, 2007), aff'g order granting summary judgment, 2006 WL 2471517 (M.D. Fla., August 24, 2006)
DiSanto v. Wells Fargo & Co. and Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.,2007 WL 2460732 (M.D. Fla., August 24, 2007)
Dowling v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., 355 F. Supp. 2d 1311 (M.D. Fla. 2004)
Dunn v. Harris Corp., 2008 WL 2370172 (M.D. Fla. 2008)
Earnest v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 291 F. Supp. 2d 1327 (M.D. Fla. 2003)
Featherston v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., 389 F. Supp. 2d 1302 (N.D. Fla. 2005)
Featherston v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., 223 F.R.D. 647 (N.D. Fla. 2004)
Fick v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 320 F. Supp. 2d 1314 (S.D. Fla. 2004)
Fick v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 374 F. Supp. 2d 1271 (S.D. Fla. 2004)
Fleming v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., No. 8:06-CV-88-T-23TBM, 2006 WL 709560 (M.D. Fla., March 16, 2006)
Ganceres v. Cingular Wireless Health and Welfare Benefits Plan for Non-Bargained Employees, etc., et al., Case No. 3:04-cv-199-J-32-MMH, 2006 WL 2644919 (M.D. Fla. 2006)
Hallford v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 158 Fed.Appx. 198, 2005 WL 3159939 (11th Cir. 2005), aff'g order granting summary judgment, 367 F. Supp. 2d 1353 (N.D. Fla. 2005)
Hufford v. Harris Corporation, 322 F. Supp. 2d 1345 (M.D. Fla. 2004)
Image Data, L.L.C. v. Sullivan, 739 So. 2d 725 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999)
Image Data, L.L.C. v. Sullivan, 745 So. 2d 567 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999)
Jordan v. Lakeland Regional Medical Center, Inc., 153 F. Supp. 2d 1333 (M.D. Fla. 2001)
Kennedy v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., Verizon Claims Review Committee, et al, 357 F. Supp. 2d 1346 (M.D. Fla. 2005)
Kirk v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 331 F. Supp. 2d 1361 (M.D. Fla. 2004)
Lake v. Hartford Life and Accident Ins. Co., 218 F.R.D. 260 (M.D. Fla. 2003)
Lake v. Hartford Life and Acc. Ins. Co., 320 F. Supp. 2d 1240 (M.D. Fla. 2004 ), aff'd percuriam, 126 Fed. App'x. 463 (11th Cir. 2004)
Lake v. Hartford Life and Acc. Ins. Co., No. 8:03-CV-237-T-26EAJ, 2004 WL 1253784 (M.D. Fla. 2004)
Lowe v. Telesat Cablevision Inc., 825 F. Supp. 1000 (M.D. Fla., 1993)
Lowe v. Telesat Cablevision, Inc., 837 F. Supp. 410 (M.D. Fla., 1993)
Mack v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., No. 06-14406, 2007 WL 1720471 (11th Cir. June 15, 2007)
Mack v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., 2006 WL 2052365 (M.D. Fla. July 21, 2006)
Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Carter, No. 3:04-CV-668-J32HTS, 2005 WL 2810699 (M.D. Fla. 2005)
Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Carter, No. 3:04-CV-668-J32HTS, 2005 WL 1668865 (M.D. Fla. 2005)
Meyer v. Hartford Life and Accident Ins. Co., 320 F. Supp. 2d 1256 (M.D. Fla. 2004)
Mutual of Omaha Ins. Co. v. Gold, 669 So. 2d 362 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996)
Mutual of Omaha Ins. Co. v. Gold, 681 So. 2d 1204 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996)
Mutual of Omaha Ins. Co. v. Wood, 679 So. 2d 69 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996)
Nicholson v. Ariko, 539 So. 2d 1141 (Fla 5th DCA 1989)
Nicholson v. Ariko, 565 So. 2d 843 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990)
Novak v. Irwin Yacht and Marine Corp., 986 F.2d 468 (11th Cir. 1993)
Onofrietti v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 320 F. Supp. 2d 1250 (M.D. Fla. 2004)
Optowave Co., Ltd. v. Dmitri G. Nitikin, et al, 2006 WL 3231422 and 2006 Lexis 81345 - Case No. 6:05-cv-1083-ACC-DAB, Doc. 90 (M.D. Fla. 2006).
Parness v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 291 F. Supp. 2d 1347 (S.D. Fla. 2003)
Providence v. Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Company, 357 F. Supp. 2d 1341 (M.D. Fla. 2005)
Rementer v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., No. 6:04-CV-1148-ORL-22-JGG, 2006 WL 66721 (M.D. Fla. 2006)
Revello v. Life Insurance Company of North America, No. 6:03-CV-1787-ORL, 2004 WL 1253887 (M.D. Fla. 2004)
Riccard v. Prudential Ins. Co., 307 F.3d 1277 (11th Cir. 2002)
Ridge v. Hartford Life and Acc. Ins. Co., No. 8:03-CV-1871-T-26EAJ, 2005 WL 889964 (M.D. Fla. 2005)
Ridge v. Hartford Life and Acc. Ins. Co., 339 F. Supp. 2d 1323 (M.D. Fla. 2004)
Sarasota Cloth Fabric & Foam, Inc. v. Benes, 502 So. 2d 1354 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987)
Sarasota Cloth Fabric & Foam, Inc. v. Benes, 482 So. 2d 574 (Fla. 5th DCA 1986)
Sejdic v. Group Long-Term Disability Plan for Employees of Homeside Lending, Inc., et al, 348 F. Supp. 2d 1313 (M.D. Fla. 2004)
Shaler v. United of Omaha Life Ins. Co., 718 So. 2d 953 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998)
Shaw v. Connecticut General Life Ins. Co., 353 F.3d 1276 (11th Cir. 2003)
Shideler v. Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, et al, 563 So.2d1082 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990)
Snider v. Cingular Wireless Health and Welfare Benefits Plan for Non-Bargained Employees, etc., et al, Case No. 3:04-cv-198-J-32-MMH, 2006 WL 2400952 (M.D. Fla. 2006)
Thomas v. Lockheed Martin Information Sys., 155 F. Supp. 2d 1316 (N.D. Fla. 2001)
Torres v. Pittston Co., 346 F.3d 1324 (11th Cir. 2003)
UnitedHealth Group, Inc. v. Dowdy, 2007 WL 3202473 (M.D. Fla. October 29, 2007)
Walker v. Connecticut General Life, 4 F.3d 999 (Table) (11th Cir. 1993)
Wall v. Pennzoil-Quaker State Company et al, 358 F. Supp. 2d 1169 (S.D. Fla. 2004)

Here is Ralph's e-Discovery Explosion video on You Tube. His blog has an extended version and blooper out-take.