Court Defers Ruling on Motion to Compel and Allows Rule 30(b)(6) Deposition of IT Designee Regarding Defendant’s Email Deletion Policy and Procedures for Retrieving Deleted Emails
Wells v. Xpedx, 2007 WL 1200955 (M.D. Fla. Apr. 23, 2007)
In this employment discrimination case, plaintiff sought the production of email of seven Xpedx employees during various time periods. Plaintiff contended that defendant implemented a new email deletion policy in 2003, under which emails were deleted within 90 days of creation, unless designated for retention. Plaintiff asserted that, under defendant’s policy, an email "that is automatically deleted by the system can not be restored except with the expressed consent of a member of the company’s legal or tax departments." Plaintiff further contended that defendant’s archive system, "legal hold" folders, and defendant’s permanent back-up computer system may contain copies of the requested emails. Thus, plaintiff sought permission to take the deposition of defendant’s corporate representative for information technology regarding defendant’s email deletion policy and procedures for retrieving deleted emails. Plaintiff argued that this would allow the parties to determine the existence of deleted emails and if defendant destroyed any evidence relating to plaintiff’s claims.
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