In the 2012 Eastern District of Louisiana case In re Oil Spill by the Oil Rig Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico, U.S. District Court Judge Carl Barbier, in the face of the then-upcoming trial (since settled) involving liability for the well-known explosion that killed 11 people and led to the spilling of millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, denied a motion by the plaintiffs' steering committee (PSC) to have admitted, under the "business records" exception to the ban on hearsay under Federal Rule of Evidence 803(6), email communications produced by defendants in discovery.
A review of the court's approach to the issue should help guide practitioners who face both the legal and practical challenges of getting e-discovery admitted as evidence. Perhaps most importantly, the court's approach reiterates two themes I have repeated in looking at many cases in this column over the past few years -- namely, that cooperation is key, and that smart answers win.
In anticipation of trial, the magistrate judge ordered the PSC to submit a list of 300 exhibits "that would constitute a sample of documents that would present the full range of evidentiary issues to be encountered at trial." To avoid protracted evidentiary issues arising at trial, the magistrate judge discerned from the list 13 categories of evidentiary issues and set up a briefing schedule for the PSC and the defendants to present motions in limine regarding each category and brief the apposite issues.
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Source: law.com
By: Leonard Deutchman
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