In 2019, many e-discovery decisions focused on when sanctions are appropriate. While case law still mandate parties are responsible for preserving all potentially relevant data in anticipation of future litigation, with new technology, a party’s preservation obligations are constantly expanding and presented new challenges for the courts to tackle.
Select cases from 2019 highlight the trend of judges awarding sanctions only if a party acted inappropriately when handling electronically stored information (ESI), such as altering evidence or auto-destroying text messages. However, if a party took appropriate steps to protect relevant e-discovery data, the courts did not award sanctions. The level of sanctions depended on how serious the party’s conduct was and whether the court used Rule 37(e) or inherent authority to reach a decision.
