I recently gave a presentation about controlling e-discovery costs in employment litigation. The topic is especially relevant to employers because e-discovery costs and risks are often inherently one-sided. And there is nothing more frustrating for a company to settle a claim with little to no merit, simply because the cost of litigation – magnified
preservation obligations
If an Employment Discrimination Claim Crashes & Burns Are You Going to be Burned in the Fire? Best Practices for Electronic Discovery Preservation.
Attorney Robert D. Brown, Jr. of the Gibbons law firm has a great write-up about a recent dismissal of an employee’s discrimination claim. The dismissal was granted after the plaintiff destroyed certain computer related evidence. See How a Case Can Crash and Burn: Why a Litigant Should Not Set Afire a Computer After It Crashes…
How Texting Can Drag Employers into the Middle of Divorce Litigation
Divorce can be a horrendous process for those directly involved. But it can also be challenging for employers who are inadvertently dragged into divorce proceedings. This is because a company’s interests are increasingly put at risks as digital evidence in the form of text messaging or emails becomes “Exhibit A” in divorce trials.
In this…
Asking Departing Employees to Sign a “Legal Hold Waiver” is the Wrong Tool for Meeting E-Discovery Preservation Obligations
Craig Ball, a top-shelf e-discovery thought leader, recently wrote a blog post asking “Should a Legal Hold ‘Waiver’ Be Secured from Departing Employees?” As explained below, the answer is no.
But first for background purposes, a party – an individual or business entity – has an obligation to preserve information, in any…
Are Employers Still Confused When it Comes to E-discovery Preservation?
A recent employment discrimination claim highlights that employers and their lawyers still struggle with e-discovery preservation obligations.
In Haraburda v. Arcelor Mittal USA, Inc.(N.D. Ind. 6/28/2011) (PDF) the defendant former employer was ordered by the Court to implement a broad litigation hold to preserve information that may be discoverable (i.e., information that relates or may…