Pitfalls of Runaway E-Discovery Requests
"Scenario No. 1: After receipt of a lawsuit, and again after receipt of request for documents, counsel for defendant discusses the need to gather pertinent documents, including electronically stored information. Defendant searches its computer system and locates no relevant ESI. Following depositions, a network server malfunctions and during a service call a computer technician identifies several gigabytes of relevant data in a dormant partition. Defendant immediately reports identification of the data to its counsel, who quickly notifies plaintiffs counsel. Plaintiff files a motion for sanctions, which is granted, including sanctions directly against counsel for their "gross negligence" in failing to identify potential sources of electronic information."
