Among the most notable tech developments over the past year was the significant move by leading technologies companies such as Apple, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft toward cloud computing for both personal and business data. Indeed, a recent survey by Forrester Research Inc. found that 28 percent of all online U.S. adults use a personal cloud service, and 41 percent of them use cloud computing at work. This relatively nascent technology platform, however, entails some potential risks, particularly in the already complex area of e-discovery.
Regardless of whether your company currently relies on a cloud platform or is contemplating such a move, you need to honestly assess whether your company is currently in a position to identify, locate, preserve, and produce cloud data potentially responsive to litigation or an investigation. These questions need to be considered and worked through prior to litigation.
While the variety of internal IT and cloud structures makes prescribing specific solutions difficult, any prudent plan for managing e-discovery for cloud data should touch on the following areas:
Control
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34 requires that parties produce or make available “documents or electronically stored information” in the party’s “possession, custody, or control.” A handful of courts have already held that data stored in a cloud is indeed within a party’s control, for purposes of Rule 34. See, e.g., Columbia Pictures, Inc. v. Bunnell, 245 F.R.D. 443, 453 (C.D. Cal. 2007); Tomlinson v. El Paso Corp., 245 F.R.D. 474, 477 (D. Colo. 2007). Other courts may take this approach, given the increasingly widespread adoption of the “practical ability” test, under which the court considers whether a party has the practical ability to access the requested information.
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Source: law.com
By: Ben Barnett and Regan Hunt Crotty
Regardless of whether your company currently relies on a cloud platform or is contemplating such a move, you need to honestly assess whether your company is currently in a position to identify, locate, preserve, and produce cloud data potentially responsive to litigation or an investigation. These questions need to be considered and worked through prior to litigation.
While the variety of internal IT and cloud structures makes prescribing specific solutions difficult, any prudent plan for managing e-discovery for cloud data should touch on the following areas:
Control
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34 requires that parties produce or make available “documents or electronically stored information” in the party’s “possession, custody, or control.” A handful of courts have already held that data stored in a cloud is indeed within a party’s control, for purposes of Rule 34. See, e.g., Columbia Pictures, Inc. v. Bunnell, 245 F.R.D. 443, 453 (C.D. Cal. 2007); Tomlinson v. El Paso Corp., 245 F.R.D. 474, 477 (D. Colo. 2007). Other courts may take this approach, given the increasingly widespread adoption of the “practical ability” test, under which the court considers whether a party has the practical ability to access the requested information.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
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Source: law.com
By: Ben Barnett and Regan Hunt Crotty
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