EDiscovery Vendor Suits

For those of you that missed the news a few months back, the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell agreed to settle with ediscovery vendor Electronic Data Discovery. Sullivan & Cromwell had sued the vendor for alledly providing sub-par work. See this article for more info. The case is important because it could be the first of many similar suits.

Businesses Generally Ignoring E-Discovery Rules

According to this article from eweek, a little over a year after the ediscovery rules went into effect, "about two-thirds of U.S. businesses remain unprepared to meet strict court requirements for the discovery and handling of electronic evidence."

E-Discovery Guidelines In US District Courts

The Electronic Discovery Law blog compiled a list of links to the 38 US District Courts that have adopted (or at least considered) local ediscovery rules and guidelines.

EDD In Criminal Investigations

The DOJ's publication, "Searching and Seizing Computers and Obtaining Electronic Evidence in Criminal Investigations," provides a comprehensive guide to the legal issues that arise when federal law enforcement agents search and seize computers during criminal investigations. Topics covered include the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, workplace privacy, and the law of electronic surveillance.

EDD Opinions By Judge Grimm

In the past few years, Judge Paul W. Grimm of the US District Court in Maryland has issued a couple of groundbreaking electronic discovery opinions: Lorraine v. Markel American Insurance Company (DMd May 4, 2007) and Hopson v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore (D.Md.2005). For more on Lorraine see here and here. For a summary of the Hopson decision see here. Judge Grimm has also authored a Suggested Protocol For Discovery of Electronically Stored Information discussed in an earlier post.

E-Discovery Local Rules

Following on yesterday's post, Maryland is not the only state where federal courts have proposed or enacted e-discovery local rules. As this article shows, at least 32 US District Courts have enacted or proposed special rules addressing electronic discovery.

Suggested Protocol For E-Discovery

Judge Paul W. Grimm of the US District Court of Maryland recently posted this "Suggested Protocol For Discovery of Electronically Stored Information." Although not currently adopted, the document is a "working model" which may at some point be recommended for adoption.

National Security Archive Sues White House Over Emails

See this press release. The suit, filed in the US District Court of the District of Columbia, demands the recovery and preservation of 5 million emails which were allegedly deleted by the White House during the period of March 2003 and October 2005.

Authenticating Email

Check out today's article from Law.com entitled "Authenticating Email Evidence As Evidence." As the authors point out, part of what makes authenticating email for use as evidence difficult is that each email is not an independent entity--it is part of a chain of emails which form a discussion.