In this non-compete agreement case, plaintiffs moved for sanctions against a defendant that deleted emails supposedly containing “critical evidence.” The defendant argued that “he deleted emails on a regular basis unless there was a specific business reason to keep them”. He believed that all of the emails were backed up in a secure server. However, […]
In this breach of contract claim, Plaintiff moved for sanctions against Defendant for failing to produce emails related to the litigation. Specifically, Plaintiff asked the Court to grant a motion in limine to instruct the jurors that they may presume Defendant carried out or allowed the destruction of relevant evidence favorable to Plaintiff. Defendant argued […]
In a discrimination case (plaintiff had attempted to rent an apartment and she was allegedly refused because of her two young children), several of Plaintiff’s social media posts (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) were relevant because, in Defendant’s view, they provided evidence of Plaintiff’s “emotional state and living circumstances after the alleged discrimination”. After some of those posts disappeared, […]
On January 12, 2016, the US District Court for the Southern District of New York found that manipulation of emails deserves sanction under Rule 37(e) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, even if the manipulation did not delete the original emails. The Court had to decide on the reach of the newly amended Rule 37(e) of the […]
A California federal court held that sanctions for spoliation are proper when a party consciously disregards its obligations to preserve relevant evidence (and in particular did not make sure that the documents were irretrievable before discarding the device allegedly destroyed by a power surge) and as result the other side is deprived of the documents […]
In this personal injury case, the Eastern District Court of Louisiana issued a discovery order for the production of a deactivated Facebook account. These the facts: an employee sued his employer for an injury suffered on the job. However, the employer filed a request for production of the employee’s Facebook account claiming to have seen […]
Author discusses if/when a lawyer can tell a client to “clean up” social media accounts. Article refers to Crowe v. Marquette Transp. Co. Gulf-Inland, LLC, 2015 WL 254633 (E.D. La. Jan. 20, 2015). The full text is available at http://www.forbes.com…
Professional Ethics Committee of the Florida Bar Topic: “A Florida Bar member has asked the committee regarding the ethical obligations on 4 advising clients to “clean up” their social media pages before litigation is filed to remove 5 embarrassing information that the lawyer believes is not material to the litigation matter” From the opinion: In […]
Law Technology News, Aug. 29, 2014 From the article “It’s almost always a bad idea to tell clients to “clean up” their Facebook accounts”. Author describes several authorities discussing lawyers’ conduct while advising clients on the use of social media sites, like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Mentioned Ethics Opinions: New York County Lawyers Association Ethics […]
Topic: Advising a Civil Litigation Client about Social Media From the opinion “Opinion rules a lawyer must advise a client about information on social media if information and postings on social media are relevant and material to the client’s representation. The lawyer may advise a client to remove information on social media if not spoliation […]