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The Impact of Cloud Computing And Mobile Devices On Litigation Holds

By Philip Favro
December 31, 2014

Lawyers may be tempted to gloss over yet another article about litigation holds and data preservation because they believe they already have the basics down. But the “basics” are a moving target and several developments from the past year merit reconsideration of company hold processes in 2015. Those developments focus on the importance of recognizing and addressing the new and dynamic forms of evidence that must be kept for litigation. As the recent cases of Brown v. Tellermate Holdings, No. 2:11-cv-1122 (S.D. Ohio July 1, 2014) and Small v. University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, 2:13-cv-00298-APG-PAL (D. Nev. Aug. 18, 2014) demonstrate, a company's litigation hold process might not be defensible unless appropriate steps are taken to preserve relevant information stored with cloud computing providers and maintained on mobile devices.

Preserving Data In The Cloud

In Brown, the court addressed the need to preserve and produce relevant information stored in the cloud. The plaintiffs sought various categories of data from their former employer in order to substantiate their age discrimination claims. In particular, the plaintiffs ' who previously worked as sales representatives at the company ' requested that their former employer produce sales records maintained by cloud provider Salesforce.com to establish that they either met or exceeded their sales quotas as compared to younger employees.

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