http://www.sentrycg.com/blog Latest in E-discovery News Sat, 26 Jun 2010 01:09:34 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Deloitte recently surveyed in-house counsels at several corporations regarding the challenges of social media.  Roughly two-thirds (62 percent) of respondents surveyed who expressed an opinion say their company is concerned about e-discovery challenges posed by online social media forums, according to a survey commissioned by the Deloitte Forensic Center. During the next three ... http://www.sentrycg.com/blog/2010/06/25/in-house-counsels-concerned-about-social-media-challenges/ Most will admit that technology has made business operations a much easier and more streamlined process.  However, there are some drawbacks associated with the newfound convenience.  Some judges in New York have ruled that even though a litigant has not stepped foot in the state, the state can exercise personal jurisdiction ... http://www.sentrycg.com/blog/2009/06/02/personal-jurisdiction-established-by-way-of-email-transmission/ Companies can avoid such high discovery bills simply by planning ahead.  When the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight was subpoenaed for documents in litigation involving Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, its IT department thought it had searched every cranny to find relevant e-mails. It turned out the agency overlooked disaster-recovery backups ... http://www.sentrycg.com/blog/2009/05/30/a-6-million-discovery-bill-is-not-an-outlier/ Litigation readiness by corporations is a necessity of operating effectively in todays business environment.  The following is a list of some of the recent amendments to FCRP that every prudent general counsel should know. Rule 16: Pretrial Meetings Requires all parties to meet and discuss a discovery plan and evaluate the preservation and production of ESI. Rule ... http://www.sentrycg.com/blog/2009/04/16/federal-rules-of-civil-procedure-amendments/ In adding teeth to the federal anti-hacker email privacy law, the Fourth circuit ruled a few days ago that a plaintiff does not have to prove actual damages to receive punitive damages under the Stored Communications Act (SCA).  In Van Alstyne v. Electronic Scriptorium, F.3d, 2009 WL 692512 (4th Cir. ... http://www.sentrycg.com/blog/2009/03/23/fourth-circuit-allows-punitive-damages-without-proof-of-actual-damages-for-plaintiff-after-employer-hacked-into-former-employees-aol-account/ An important lesson to practitioners courtesy of the D.C. Circuit.  A recent decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirms an order requiring a nonparty to spend $6 million (9 percent of its annual operating budget) to comply with an e-discovery subpoena.   The D.C. Circuit's ruling in In ... http://www.sentrycg.com/blog/2009/02/27/an-expensive-ediscovery-lesson-taught-by-the-dc-circuit/ This is one writer's opinion, what's yours? 5) Mancia v. Mayflower Textile Servs. Co., 2008 WL 4595175 (D. Md. Oct. 15, 2008) If there ever was an opinion written by a judge to make a larger societal point, Mancia was certainly it.  Judge Paul Grimm, who’ll appear on this list in another ... http://www.sentrycg.com/blog/2008/12/15/five-groundbreaking-cases-in-ediscovery-for-2008/ In the court case Omega Patents v. Fortin Auto Radio, both the plaintiff and the judge were unhappy with the defendant’s volume of e-discovery production, which included a few documents and just five emails in a universe of tens of thousands. The defendant subsequently searched for and reviewed more than ... http://www.sentrycg.com/blog/2008/12/11/defendant-pays-for-not-being-thorough-efficient-and-timely-in-e-discovery/ LTN gives eight ways to prepare for e-discovery when you are under the gun.  1. Apply the five Ws of journalism (who, what, when, where, and why) to get a handle on your core preservation duties. Immediately list the people, events, time intervals, business units, records, and communications central to the case. a. ... http://www.sentrycg.com/blog/2008/12/08/eight-ways-to-prepare-for-e-discovery-in-a-pinch/ As pointed out by one author, FRE 502 may not the panacea to ediscovery costs that many herald it to be.  See below the three main problems that FRE 502 does not address and therefore makes the new rule. Federal Rule of Evidence 502, enacted on Sept. 19, 2008, has been heralded as ... http://www.sentrycg.com/blog/2008/12/04/is-fre-502-all-its-cracked-up-to-be-not-so-much/