Hmm, interesting problem that can torpedo a case. Does your firm’s IT department employ effective document management policies?
"What seems to be the problem? Your IT organization has put in place proper procedures [PDF] for deleting electronic documents, including e-mails. So it is no surprise when as a result of litigation your e-discovery process cannot turn up a particular document. However, to everyone’s surprise the document turns up on your CEO’s laptop. This is a very possible scenario. You must know whether the document is admissible as evidence in a civil lawsuit.
"What do you need to know? Evidence is admitted in court only if it can be shown that the evidence is authentic. Authentic data must follow a chain-of-custody. So how does this work with a lost document that has now been found?"
Find more key questions for IT in the balance of this article from Storage.
Author David Hill is the founder and principal at the Mesabi Group…an industry analyst firm that focuses on networked storage and storage management.