OPINION AND ORDERI. Introduction By notice of motion dated June 11, 2018, plaintiff seeks to compel defendant Justin Gorkic to answer certain questions put to him during a May 23, 2018, deposition (Notice of Motion to Compel, dated June 11, 2018 (Docket Item (“D.I.”) 64) at 1). For the reasons set forth below, plaintiff’s motion is granted.II. Background1Plaintiff retained defendant Computer Assisted Practice Electronic Management Solutions, Inc. (“CAPEMS”), co-owned by defendants Justin Gorkic and Kenneth Cullen, to perform various services related to plaintiff’s computers, including, but not limited to, “remote and on-site monthly back-ups of [p]laintiff’s data” (Memorandum of Law in Support of Plaintiff’s Motion to Compel, dated June 11, 2018 (D.I. 65) (“Plaintiff’s Mem.”) at 1).In July of 2017, defendant Gorkic copied plaintiff’s back-up data onto a MY BOOK external hard drive, which he encrypted to ensure that only plaintiff could access the drive (Affidavit of Justin Gorkic, sworn to August 28, 2017 (D.I. 27-1) (“Gorkic Aff.”) 3; Affidavit of Kenneth Cullen, sworn to August 28, 2017 (D.I. 27-2) (“Cullen Aff.”) 3). On or about August 17, 2017, the hard drive was given to defendants’ counsel, Lawrence Schoenbach, Esq. (Gorkic Aff. 5; Cullen Aff. 5). On August 29, 2017, defendants’ counsel gave a MY BOOK hard drive that purportedly contained plaintiff’s confidential information to plaintiff’s counsel, Aparna Anantharaman, Esq. (Declaration of Aparna Anantharaman, Esq., in Further Support of Plaintiff’s Motion to Compel Defendant Gorkic to Answer Deposition Questions, dated June 20, 2018 (D.I. 69) 7). On April 26, 2018, defendants’ counsel gave plaintiff’s counsel, Elizabeth Kimundi, Esq., the encryption key for the MY BOOK hard drive that he had previously supplied (Declaration of Elizabeth Kimundi, Esq., in Further Support of Plaintiff’s Motion to Compel Defendant Gorkic to Answer Deposition Questions, dated June 20, 2018 (D.I. 68) 4).Plaintiff claims that the contents of the hard drive demonstrate that defendants accessed plaintiff’s data months after the alleged breach of contract, in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (Plaintiff’s Mem. at 7-8).On May 23, 2018, plaintiff took Gorkic’s deposition (Plaintiff’s Mem. at 1; Defendants’ Reply Affirmation in Opposition to Plaintiff’s Motion to Compel, dated June 18, 2018 (D.I. 66) (“Defendants’ Reply Aff.”) 5). Defendants’ counsel instructed defendant Gorkic not to answer certain questions pertaining to the MY BOOK hard drive, as well as questions regarding screen shots purportedly related to the hard drive (Plaintiff’s Mem. at 4-6; Defendants’ Reply Aff.
