Amended FRCP Rocks The Data Center By Dave Hunt, C2C

On December 1, 2006, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure was amended to provide expanded definition and structure to the newest class of legally discoverable business data: electronically stored information (ESI). Data management will never be the same. In a nation where litigation is a continuing threat, companies cannot afford to ignore the new rules. Neglecting the rules will send litigation costs soaring in the form of ad-hoc electronic discovery procedures and meaningful court sanctions.

With this in mind, having a system in place is colossally important. The dangers of litigation in Federal and State courts are not confined to multi-million dollar corporations. The smallest company can face financial and market devastation from litigation, legal fees, court costs and settlements. It makes no sense to assume the risks of additional court sanctions dependent on rules violations.

The New Rules
The new rules are evolutionary, rather than revolutionary. In simplest terms, they are designed to clarify that e-discovery is now a part of traditional discovery. The amendments provide for roughly equivalent treatment of electronic documents and paper documents. It is the implementation of these rules that potential litigants need to consider. Organizations that fail to comply with these rules face a variety of sanctions, including adverse instructions, default judgments and even monetary fines. Even worse, they risk losing cases that otherwise would have been won or favorably settled.

It is important to note that there are not substantive requirements, guidelines or directives under these new rules that you can pull out and implement. Much like the existing discovery rules, the new amendments are directed to the ways lawyers and courts handle and conduct cases in the federal court system (and in many, if not all, states). They deal with the ways electronic information will be gathered and produced in the litigation context. They do not mandate records management requirements. As a result, organizations have not found the clarity and certainty they might have expected from the new amendments. A look at some of the impacts is in order.

Dave Hunt, founder and CEO of C2C brings more than 20 years of entrepreneurial experience, and email management expertise to the organization. Hunt established C2C in 1992 with a vision to help IT Managers and businesses solve their message system problems from the concepts of practicing email management to performance and security.