Kroll Ontrack: FUN EDISCOVERY FACTS YOU NEVER KNEW

by MICHELE LANGE News Flash! Ediscovery is pretty fast-paced—thank goodness—lest we all end up with antiquated, unworkable rules and nothing fun to write about. Test your knowledge of the origins of ediscovery, with these fun ediscovery facts. 1) People actually communicated before social media. Believe it or not, approximately 40 years ago, the first “email” was sent. In 1972, the United States Supreme Court issued the first judicial opinion to mention email in U.S. v. Midwest Video Corp. Many litigants insist that this form of ESI is still home to troves of richly responsive evidence. Others stand on this fact to argue that hominoids actually communicated with one another before tweeting, pinning, and stringing videos together in “vines.” 2) The 1970s put the “disco” in ediscovery. In 1970, Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34(a) was amended to make “data compilations” discoverable. In the 1972 case, Adams v. Dan River Mills, Inc., the court cited Fed.R.Civ.P. 34(a) and required computer cards, tapes and printouts to be produced in discovery. 3) Judges are truly dedicated to ediscovery and seemingly immortal. In 1995, Judge Peck authored one of the first cases to officially declare that computer data is discoverable. Anti-Monopoly v. Hasbro. In 2012, Judge Peck decided Da Silva Moore v. Publicis Groupe, the first opinion requiring the use of technology –assisted review in litigation. What’s next for Judge Peck – maybe an order on the discoverability of data from a mind-reading device? 4) 2013 will be a very, very big year. By the end of 2013, there will be more ediscovery judicial opinions in this decade than in any of the previous decades combined. Here is a breakdown of ediscovery opinions by decade: a) 1970s: Less than 10 b) 1980s: Approximately 20 c) 1990s: More than 40 d) 2000s: Approximately 180 e) 2010-2012: More than 185 IF YOU ENJOYED THESE FUN-FACTS, CHECK OUT THE COMPLETE INFOGRAPHIC: “10 THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT EDISCOVERY”