In today’s ABA Journal E-report, Richard Acello reports on proposed changes to the Rules of Civil Prodecure that govern e-discovery which were recently approved by the Judicial Conference. The article includes commentary regarding implications of specific rule changes and can be found here.
An article by Conrad Jacoby in the September issue of Law Technology News: Collecting documents in response to internal investigations or civil litigation discovery requests has always been a challenge. The problem is not so much gathering the documents (though volume can be problematic), but rather identifying the data repository nooks and crannies where important information may be stored. Most difficult of all: The collecting party must develop logical and reproducible procedures for identifying relevant documents and separating them from the vast amount of other unrelated material. One particular challenge is sorting through e-mail messages and short messages sent from portable devices. Click here to read the entire article.
The Judicial Conference today approved the package of proposed rule amendments addressing the discovery of electronically stored information. It was approved unanimously, without question or objection, and will now be considered by the Supreme Court. If promulgated by May 1, it will become effective on December 1, 2006 absent intervention by Congress.
The September 2005 report from the Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure to the Judicial Conference, which includes a copy of the amendments, can be found here.
AP Business reported Tuesday that Morgan Stanley (“Morgan”) is facing a Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) fine of roughly $10 million in connection with a failure to preserve email.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the email may have been relevant to significant SEC actions against Morgan. It also reported that the SEC is alleging that Morgan falsely certified a document stating that it had produced all documents in connection with an investigation.
The AP story can be found here.
On August 9, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported that Beverly Enterprises was ordered by the Arkansas Supreme Court to comply with Judge Phillips’ ruling and post a $20 million bond for failure to produce documents. Judge Phillips reportedly ordered the bond after “becoming frustrated in obtaining documents in a nursing home care case.” He had considered incarceration of Beverly executives in June, following defendants’ failure to produce documents including email and other electronic data.
The story can be found here.
Maybe Morgan Stanley was careless, or maybe it was unlucky. But if you think your organization is prepared to face a lawsuit, you may want to think again. Click here to read the full story from the July issue of Computerworld.
Law Technology News, EDD Showcase, August 2005
By Helen Bergman Moure
On June 16, 2005, discovery practice took a huge step forward when the Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure approved a set of proposed amendments relating to electronic discovery. The proposed rules and their accompanying “Notes” now face three remaining hurdles: Judicial Conference of Senior Circuit Judges approval; Supreme Court approval; and Congressional review.
Assuming they are not delayed, amended, voided, or deferred during these remaining steps, the amendments will become effective on December 1, 2006. Click here to read the entire article.
On July 13, 2005 the Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) issued an Order in connection with the alleged failure of UBS Securities LLC (“UBS”) to preserve email. The Commission accepted an Offer of Settlement and UBS consented to entry of the Order without admitting or denying any findings of wrongdoing. Read More
The Monday, June 27, 2005 issue of The National Law Journal reports instant messaging (IM) carries its own set of legal implications for in-house law departments. Although many people think of IM as a fleeting conversation, similar to a telephone call, it’s legally considered a document, and is subject to the same retention policies that cover other business records. Click here for the full text of the article [subscription required.]
The Secure Access to Justice Act (H.R. 1751) was introduced by Rep. Louie Gohmert (Republican from Texas) on April 21, 2005. It was referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary followed by the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security where hearings were held as recently as June 30. It proposes amending Title 18 of the United States Code to protect judges, prosecutors, witnesses, victims, and their family members, and for other purposes. Read More
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