The evolution of e-discovery and computer forensics, Part 2 Zubulake v. UBS Warburg

Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and ESI The evolution of e-discovery and computer forensics, Part 2: Zubulake v. UBS Warburg

By Steve Burgess, 2014

The area of electronic discovery and digital forensics is quickly changing. In early many years of this millennium, discovery rules worked mainly with paper, however with the arrival from the computer age, documents are drafted digitally and important rules regarding Digitally Saved Information still must be invented. This series examines a couple of from the major cases, opinions and final results which have informed this evolution.

Judge Shira Scheindlin released precedent-setting (and frequently-reported) opinions within the important situation of Zubulake v. UBS Warburg - 2003-2005.

The Rear Story:

Laura Zubulake labored in New You are able to and Connecticut for that Swiss-based firm, UBS Warburg, Europe's biggest bank at that time. She was an very effective stocks manager, generating greater than $650,000 annually selling Asian stocks to institutional traders for any decade. In 2000, she was ignored for any promotion that they have been guaranteed, to consider over as senior sales director from the Asian desk within the U.S. when her superior left that position.

Rather, a Matthew Chapin was handed the positioning, whereupon he started demeaning Zubulake with sexual innuendo along with other ridiculing comments, calling her old and ugly before her male colleagues, excluding her from excursions with lots of clients with her colleagues, forbidding her to operate certain clients's accounts, as well as getting her desk moved over and done with the assistant's desks instead of letting her remain sitting together with her co-workers.

In August 2001, Zubulake filed a complaint using the employment commission, as well as in October, Chapin fired her, along the way falsifying emails, records and complaints. Zubulake prosecuted UBS for gender discrimination, failure to advertise, and retaliation under federal, condition, and city law.

UBS contended that Chapin wasn't a jerk due to sexual discrimination, but instead he was mean to everybody, including male employees. A amazing argument! The financial institution maintained that they was fired for insubordination.

Once the time came for creating documents in discovery, UBS created just 100 total emails, yet Zubulake herself could produce 450 relevant emails of communications between company staffers. UBS was under lawsuit hold obligations but nonetheless had apparently made 100s of emails disappear regardless of their obligation to retain them. In addition, UBS created additional emails that made an appearance to become wrongly produced.

When discovery was asked for for archival data and backup tapes, UBS stated that to visit after such data could be an undue expense along with a burden on UBS. It reported the situation of Rowe v. William Morris and requested a legal court to change the fee for production to Zubulake in line with the -Rowe test,- some weighting factors accustomed to determine cost-shifting that based on the Rowe situation.

Judge Shira Scheindlin from the New You are able to Southern District created five changing opinions regarding who should purchase production/discovery, how much discovery and manufacture of ESI is allowable, and just how to find out a party's duty to preserve evidence. She discovered that simply because information is digitally saved (ESI) does not always make its production an undue expense. Actually, because of the opportunity to perform machine/computer searches, costs can really be under equivalent human searches of paper documents.

The responsibility of price is elevated with lowering ease of access, as based on the kind of media which the ESI is saved. There have been going to be five groups of electronic databases: online data (for example hard drives), near-line data (for example Compact disks along with other optical disks), offline storage (for example magnetic tapes), backup tapes, and fragmented, removed and broken data. Backup tapes and fragmented/broken data were regarded as most inaccessible and for that reason most susceptible to cost-shifting.

A legal court purchased sampling from the data by getting 5 backup tapes restored to find out whether there is a likelihood the remaining 70+ tapes would produce relevant data. They did produce 600 responsive messages. Judge Schendlin developed a new seven-factor test to find out whether cost-shifting was at order.

The very first two factors are regarded as of the very most importance.

1: May be the request customized to uncover relevant info? (Fishing expeditions frowned upon).

2: Is information offered by other sources? (The parties is deserving of the data in the most easily available sources, for example company reviews or public information rather than needing to search though old backup tapes, for example).

The following three factors are regarded as of secondary importance.

3: Total price of production v. the total amount in debate (the price of discovery ought to be substantially under the possibility winnings within the situation).

4: Total price v. assets open to all parties (it should not bankrupt anybody).

5: Relative ability, incentive to manage costs (clearly the party having to pay for production includes a strong incentive to manage costs).

The ultimate two factors are regarded as of lesser importance compared to first five.

6: Need for issues on the line in lawsuit (Will the situation come with an important effect on society? The Zubulake situation had related to gender discrimination, but wasn't a groundbreaking situation for the reason that area).

7: Do you know the relative advantages to parties of acquiring the asked for information? (It's generally assumed the complaintant aims to profit and thus this test will be rarely regarded as crucial.)

Eventually, a legal court discovered that UBS had lost evidence (some monthly backup tapes were missing), carelessly destroyed evidence (some weekly tapes backfilled the monthly tapes), willfully withheld additional evidence, as well as photoshopped evidence. Consequently, Judge Scheindlin released a bad inference instruction towards the jury, -Because UBS's spoliation was willful, the lost details are presumed to become relevant.- Quite simply, if data didn't have, the jury could think that UBS destroyed it purposely, to be able to modify the situation. A tragedy for UBS.

Zubulake won greater than she'd requested: $29 million, including $9 million in award for damages and $20 million punitive damages. UBS needed to purchase depositions and repeat depositions, the expense from the motion, and almost all the price of production.

The Zubulake situation created several key events within the evolution of law around Electronic Discovery, and brought to most of the 2006 Changes towards the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP). The key events include:

The parties possess a duty to preserve ESI throughout lawsuit. - not just once there is a lawsuit hold, but additionally if lawsuit is predicted.

Lawyers possess a duty to watch their clients' ESI compliance. Including outdoors counsel! Sanctions don't only modify the party and inside counsel.

Data sampling is permitted and urged. Within the discovery process, grab data from the couple of tapes and hard disk drives first, for example - to find out if there's apt to be anything around the relaxation - or even when it's all regulated offered by a couple of (and perhaps copied around the relaxation).

The revealing party can change the expense at a lower price accessible data. When the requestor is searching for information that's difficult to search up or produce, the price of creating that might have to be moved towards the requestor.

There might be sanctions enforced for that spoliation of ESI.

The Zubulake situation put down rules and tests which have informed later courts' choices along with the 2006 changes towards the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and also the 2009 California rules. They still help shape & inform law regarding digitally saved information. Consequently, the situation also is constantly on the alter the form of the pc forensic and electronic discovery industries.

Next within this series: the 2006 ESI Changes towards the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

Burgess Forensics: Computer forensics, file recovery, expert witness - Since 1985

Steve Burgess is really a freelance technology author,speaker, a practicing computer forensics specialist and expert witness because the principal of Burgess Forensics, along with a cause of the needed launched Scientific Evidence in Civil and Criminal Cases, fifth Edition by Moenssens, et al. Mr. Burgess might be arrived at at http://world wide web.burgessforensics.com or via email at steve at burgessforensics us dot com