The Road to Sanctions is Paved with Good Intentions

Siddartha Rao

In Sekisui American Corp. v. Hart, Judge Scheindlin issues discovery sanctions, warns counsel that good intentions are not enough

Counsel should take note of the adverse inference instruction sanction Judge Shira Scheindlin issued against the plaintiff in Sekisui American Corp. v. Hart, No. 12 Civ. 3479 (SAS) (FM), (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 15, 2013) (“Sekisui”), an action against former executives for breach of contract. The case signals potential increased risks to litigants who fail to implement proactive hold and preservation policies and should provide guidance to counsel about the need for defensible forensic processes. 

ACC Annual Meeting 2013: EU Data Privacy and the Godmother of E-Discovery

John Blumenschein

I’m on a plane flying back from this year’s ACC (Association of Corporate Counsel) Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, which, as usual, delivered four days’ worth of excellent sessions and food for thought. The hottest topic by far was data privacy, especially in light of the NSA revelations this week.

Globalization and Data Privacy

Almost all of the panel sessions that I attended [e.g., on social media, government investigations, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)] touched on the topic of privacy in one way or another. The primary driving force behind this topic’s heat factor, however, is the increasingly global nature of business today.

Judge Grimm Goes Social

Paul W. Grimm, United States District Judge

Bryant Bell

Judge Grimm is a judicial superstar when it comes to e-discovery. His opinions have helped shape our interpretation of digital data as evidence, and he continues to be on the forefront of issues regarding ESI. He has yet again stepped to the plate to address a simmering e-discovery issue. In a recent article he provides thorough analysis and guidance on social media and the evidentiary authentication as an important development for social-media evidence discovery. Judge Grimm succinctly summarizes his article as follows:

Given the ubiquitous use of digital devices to communicate on social media sites, there is little chance that such evidence will cease to be highly relevant in either criminal or civil cases... Hopefully, this Article can shed some light on the nature of the confusion and offer useful suggestions on how to approach the authentication of social media evidence. It is a near certainty that the public appetite for use of social media sites is unlikely to abate, and it is essential for courts and lawyers to do a better job in offering and admitting this evidence. We hope that reading this Article will be their first step toward this goal.