A state appeals court on Monday upheld a judge’s sanction of Roseland’s Brach Eichler for failing to take adequate precautions to prevent the disappearance of attorney-client e-mails sought in discovery in a litigation matter.

The ruling, in Goldmark v. Mellina, A-5918-10, is a lesson to lawyers and litigants that even if communications are asserted to be privileged, there is an obligation to preserve them and to disclose them to the court, if required, for in camera inspection.