With recent amendments to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26 and a proliferation of Motions to Strike/Exclude Expert Testimony under the Court’s responsibility as a gatekeeper of information that is to be considered by a jury, keeping apprised of recent rulings on these issues is key to effectively using experts in defending mass tort claims. This presentation will discuss the changes to Rule 26, including how courts have handled discovery disputes involving experts, and will address recent Daubert and Frye decisions that may assist in having an opponent’s experts testimony stricken before presentation to a jury as well as other considerations as you work on expert preparation for mass tort cases. 

Three law firms based in Austin, Texas recently filed suit on behalf of 13 people claiming that almost 20 apps, including Facebook, Foursquare, Yelp and Twitter, violate policies put in place by distributers such as Apple’s App Store, Amazon’s App Store and Google Play.  The American Statesmen reports that the violations are a result of mobile apps “stealing” address book data, such as names, phone numbers, email addresses and even birthdays.  The lawsuit seeks to stop app developers from harvesting data without permission.  The complaint cites an industry publication that claims the information collected could be worth 60 cents to several dollars per contact. 

A New York Times article investigating contact mining recently noted that “the address book in smartphones — where some of the user’s most personal data is carried — is free for app developers to take at will, often without the phone owner’s knowledge.”  The app developers use the data in an effort to expand the number of people using their program.  Developers use email addresses to target potential new customers and to target advertisements.  Several companies, including Path, a social networking site, have issued apologies regarding “how [their] application used your phone contacts.” 

Attorney Richard Newman, an Internet law attorney and managing partner of the Hinch Newman firm, with offices in both California and New York, thinks that the lawsuits are starting to have an impact.  Mr. Newman stated “the mobile communications industry is finding that failing to properly inform consumers of what is happening to their information is increasingly grabbing the attention of regulatory authorities, including the Federal Trade Commission.”  Until a regulatory framework is hammered out to govern emerging data privacy issues, litigation may be one of the only things keeping pace with technology development.  

If you use the Google search engine (and I’m guessing that includes pretty much everyone) you may have noticed a text box appearing on the screen during the past couple weeks, imploring you to read Google’s new privacy disclosures, along with the caveat “this stuff matters.”  That text box stopped appearing on March 1, when Google introduced its new privacy policy.  According to Reuters, at the beginning of the year, Google began reporting that it was simplifying its privacy policy, consolidating 60 guidelines into a single policy that applies to all its services, including YouTube, Gmail and the social network Google+. 

According to the title of a Washington Post article, the “New privacy policy lets Google watch you – everywhere.”  More specifically, the new policy allows Google to track users’ activities by consolidating information it gathers on them across all of the company’s platforms.  Users cannot opt out of the new policy if they want to continue using Google’s services.  A company representative, Alma Whitten, noted that until now, the company has been restricted in their ability to combine YouTube search histories, for example, with other information on a user’s account (email activity).  Although the company claims that it does not sell or trade personally identifiable user information, it now shares usage habits and historical data across all platforms and uses the information to match ads to your online behavior .  Moreover, the fact that Google is gathering so much user specific information on individuals creates the potential for additional privacy implications in the future.  

The National Association of Attorneys General sent a letter to Google signed by 36 members expressing concern about the new policy.  In part, the letter noted:

Consumers have diverse interests and concerns, and may want the information in their Web history to be kept separate from the information they exchange via Gmail. Likewise, consumers may be comfortable with Google knowing their search queries but not with it knowing their whereabouts, yet the new privacy policy appears to give them no choice in the matter, further invading their privacy.

EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding stated that data protection agencies in European countries have concluded that Google’s new privacy policy is in breach of European law.  Given the amount of attention the new privacy policy has generated, it appears as though it’s only a matter of time before the company faces its first significant legal challenge to the policy.  Until then, the digital footprint of all internet users will undoubtedly continue to grow.

Chad Godwin

Attorney

Carr Allison

A year ago we published an article in The Whisper titled Please Jurors, Check Your iPhone With The Bailiff (Vol. 7, Issue 2.)  The article discussed the increasingly frequent problem of jurors' use of the Internet to do their own research and the use of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter to communicate with each other and the world outside of the courtroom regarding the trials in which they serve.  The temptation of a sitting juror to do her own research, or to discuss the case with other jurors or outsiders, has always been there; it is just that the advent of the digital age has made the ability to succumb to temptation so much easier.  Clearly, courts have taken notice of the problem.  Our article last year discussed the nature of the problem and what you, the lawyer, could do to learn of and handle the problem when it occurs.  This article will in turn discuss what courts and legislatures around the country have done, and to suggest what more should be done to combat the problem at its source. 

In the past year, there have been countless stories of jurors tweeting, posting to Facebook, blogging, or doing internet research during an ongoing trial.  In a recent criminal case in California the jury was excused for a Mardsen hearing, which is when a defendant requests a new court-appointed attorney based upon a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel.  During the hearing, which must be held outside the presence of the jurors, several jurors used a cell phone to Google the meaning of the hearing.  The judge found out and was forced to declare a mistrial.  Before releasing the jury, the judge reprimanded the jury and told them the consequences of their actions – that the State would have to pay for a new trial, and that the defendant, who may in fact be innocent, would have to spend the next few weeks in jail awaiting his new trial.  Thus, the judge advised, the State incurred substantial funds and a man lost his liberty, all because the jurors spent less than five minutes on Google during a trial.  Had the jury been better warned, with an explanation of potential risk, the jury may not have committed the misconduct.      

Another example is that of Seth Rogovoy, a Massachusetts juror who was dismissed from a trial in February 2011 for his tweeting during his service.  The tweets included a post which stated:  "I am in contempt of court, de facto if not de jure" and "Sucks that you can't tweet from the jury box. What's the fun in that?"  These tweets show that Mr. Rogovoy both understood that he was not allowed to make the posts and the potential consequence to himself, yet he did so anyway.  After being dismissed by the judge, Mr. Rogovoy stated:  "I never mentioned any of the people: the defendant, the witnesses. I never mentioned the court I was sitting in."  In an interview later given to Bob Gardinier, as reported in the February 9, 2011 Albany Times-Union article Rape trial of ex-priest now before jury: Deliberations set to start in case; juror dismissed after using "Twitter," Mr. Rogovoy stated that, given the popularity of social media platforms like Twitter, judges will be forced to confront them in the courtroom.   In that respect, Mr. Rogovoy is absolutely correct.

In order to prevent further juror misconduct through the use of social media, legislatures need to make it clear that it will not be tolerated, and courts need to instruct juries specifically on the impropriety of discussing or researching regarding an ongoing trial, why it is improper to discuss or research an ongoing trial, and the consequences to the juror if he or she fails to follow those instructions.  This instruction should be made several times throughout the course of a trial, including when candidates are first called for jury duty, before voir dire, at the beginning of trial, before every recess, and before deliberations.  The court must then monitor the jurors as best it can, and follow through with the threatened punishment.  Most courts are now doing something about the social media, and in fact most of these suggestions are being followed by at least some jurisdictions.  However, no jurisdiction has yet put them all together in a comprehensive effort to combat the social media problem.  Without a strong message that juror misconduct is impermissible, the problem will only get worse.

More than half the state and federal courts now have jury instructions that at least make a passing mention of the internet when advising jurors or prospective jurors on the prohibition of performing outside research or discussing an ongoing case.  This is a good first step, as many of the jurors who have made social media postings in the past have relayed that they did not understand this to be a "discussion" which was prohibited by the rules.  For this reason, it is important that the instructions make more than a mere passing reference.  Rather, the instructions should be as specific as possible, mentioning sites such as Facebook and Twitter (or whatever the prevalent form or social media of the day happens to be).  At least then, the rule itself will be clear to the jurors.

Additionally, the most effective jury instruction not only gives the rule, but also explains the reasons behind the rule.  While lawyers understand that some evidence is inadmissible for one reason or another and will not be known to the jury, many laypersons have a different view.  They see lawyers and judges as keeping information from them that they need to know.  Thus, not only are they curious, but many believe that they must know all the facts in order to be the best juror they can be.  It is also important, as many model instructions now realize, to give the jury the reasons so that they understand that it is important that they follow the rules.  Just as important is to advise the jury of the consequences to the courts and parties if they do not follow the rules, and the likelihood of a mistrial. 

Often these instructions are repeated in one form or another several times throughout the trial.  This, coupled with a recitation of the policy reasons underlying the instruction, will provide the jury with a constant reminder of the prohibition and sound basis for not falling to temptation.  While it may seem repetitive, the ease with which a person in today's world can pull out their cell phone and record a status update which can jeopardize the entire trial necessitates the constant reminder as seen in the examples above.

In San Francisco County, in response to a jury pool of over 600 that was dismissed in 2009 following the realization that they had all researched a high-profile case prior to voir dire, the court takes a more aggressive approach.  Prospective juries are given a questionnaire with a cover sheet that states in part: 

You are ordered not to discuss this case with anyone; do not allow anyone to discuss the case with you. The only information you may tell anyone is that you are in a jury pool for a trial and the time requirements of that trial. You are also ordered not to read, listen to, or watch any news, Internet, or other media accounts of this case, past or present. You may not do research about any issues involved in the case. You may not blog, Tweet, or use the Internet to obtain or share information. (CCP §1209(a)(10))

In addition to the instruction on prohibition, there must be consequences for a juror's willful disobedience of the rules.  There are many individual instances where a judge has held a juror in contempt of court for violating the prohibition on research and discussion, and held hearings.  This may need to be a more frequent and publicized occurrence to stem the growing problem.  California recently passed a new law, AB 141, which went into effect on January 1, 2012, that makes a willful violation of the prohibition on research or use of social media punishable by not only civil contempt, but also makes it a misdemeanor.  See Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 1209(a)(6); Cal. Penal Code § 166(a)(6).  In addition, the bill amends current law and requires that the jury be specifically instructed, before trial and before recesses, on the prohibition of research or dissemination of information, in all forms including electronic and wireless.  See Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 611; Cal. Penal Code § 1122.  If anything, the bill does not go far enough.  For instance, it could require offending jurors to pay for the consequences of their action, including the re-trial of the case if necessary.

While several judges in California and in other jurisdictions have taken it upon themselves to hold a juror in contempt for prohibited conduct, including the use of social media or performing internet research, the California Legislature's codification of this violation as not only civil contempt, but also a misdemeanor, is a step in the right direction.  However, while California's new law requires the judge to advise juries regarding the prohibition on internet research and use of social media, it does not require the judge to instruct the jurors on the consequences of their actions if they fail to follow the rules.  This too is important.  While advising the jury of the reasons behind the rule appeals to their sense of civic duty – the carrot – advising the jury of the consequences of failing to adhere to the instruction lets the jury know that there will be real punishment – the stick.  Both the carrot and the stick are necessary in order to have the best chance of strict adherence to the rules.

Finally, not only is it important that there be a law in place for handling a juror's violation and that the jury be advised of that law.  The law must be enforced, possibly by the district attorneys as a misdemeanor rather than the judge as civil contempt.  The instruction could also contain a request that the jurors report to the court if they know or suspect that one of their co-jurors may be violating any of these orders, which would in essence be self-enforcement.

Other courts have experimented with the prohibition of cell phones in the courthouse for everyone, or at least for jurors.  Indiana, for instance, requires the bailiff to collect and store computers, cell phones and other electronic communications devices prior to deliberations.  This rule was implemented after the Indiana Supreme Court considered a case wherein a juror took a cell phone call during deliberations.  There, the Indiana Supreme Court wrote:  "We additionally observe that permitting jurors, other trial participants, and observers to retain or access mobile telephones or other electronic communication devices, while undoubtedly often helpful and convenient, is fraught with significant potential problems impacting the fair administration of justice….The best practice is for trial courts to discourage, restrict, prohibit, or prevent access to mobile electronic communication devices by all persons except officers of the court during all trial proceedings, and particularly by jurors during jury deliberation."  Henri v. Curto, 908 N.E.2d 196, 202-203 (Ind. 2009).  Although helpful for times when the jurors are actually at the courthouse, this solution may not provide much in the way of curbing the practice of Internet research and social media discussions after hours, unless the jury is sequestered for the entire trial.

Our jury trial system is dependent on the jurors who are privy only to the evidence admissible in court, instructed on the law solely by the judge at the conclusion of the evidence and who have not been predisposed to outside opinions or discussions of the case before deliberation with their fellow jurors.  While no solution is perfect, it is clear that courts, legislatures, and lawyers must do more to halt the increasing episodes of juror misconduct. 

Tom D'Amato is a shareholder with Murphey, Pearson, Bradley & Feeney in San Francisco.  

Adam Koss is an associate with Murphey, Pearson, Bradley & Feeney in San Francisco.  

A recent article published on socialmediatoday.com suggests that unlike other professional industries, health care providers have been slow to engage on social media.  The article posits that the key reasons for their reluctance stem from concerns about accountability and privacy.  At its root, the issue seems to be that between the protections afforded under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and more generalized notions of physician-patient confidentiality, many providers are concerned that a presence in social media threatens patient confidentiality and exposes them to expanded liability.  The article makes the point that a lack of social media presence is itself risky for health care providers, and argues that the risk of not establishing a presence subjects providers to potentially negative commentary and characterization.

The risks to physicians, hospitals and similar providers posed by interaction on social media are analogous to a large extent to those faced by lawyers, a group which in my experience has fairly enthusiastically embraced social media, and opportunities for professional on-line communication and networking.  Like physicians, lawyers are bound by client confidentiality.  We are also bound by rules of professional conduct that regulate what we are permitted to communicate about our services and our experience.  This does (or should) cause us to be cautious and deliberative when engaging social media, particularly when we do so under color of our profession and/or our firm.  Notwithstanding these restrictions, lawyers have been active in social media for many years.

On the other hand, health care providers have to be concerned about additional scrutiny that we lawyers do not.  This includes state and federal oversight associated with Medicare and Medicaid, as well as board licensure review.  Health care providers also face heightened attention and expectations of accountability when there is a bad patient outcome.  Providers may be understandably leery of engaging in yet another form of exposure and communication in which there is certainly opportunity for “bad press.”  However, as the socialmediatoday.com article suggests, media silence can be detrimental both from a financial point of view and in the arena of public opinion.  Even social media silence.

When Consumer Product Safety Commissioner Thomas Moore retired in October 2011 after serving three terms, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) was split evenly along party lines.   There were two republicans, Nancy Nord and Anne Northup, and two democrats, Robert Adler and Chairman Inez Tenenbaum.  Now it seems President Obama's nomination of democrat Marietta Robinson will again give democrats the edge. 

Marietta Robinson has been a trial lawyer in Michigan for thirty three years, representing both plaintiffs and defendants.   Additionally, for eight years Robinson served as the federally appointed trustee of the Dalkon Shield Trust, a trust that paid billions to women who used the Dalkon Shield contraceptive.  Robinson threw her hat in the ring for a seat on the Michigan Supreme Court in 2000 and 2002. 

The CPSC works to "protect the public against unreasonable risks of injury associated with consumer products."  CPSC Commissioners are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate.  Robinson told the Washington Post that she was honored to be nominated and hoped to get through Senate confirmation quickly.    

It is not surprising that plaintiffs claiming to be injured in auto accidents are often evasive about their prior medical history and treaters. In an article published by the American Medical Association, “Examinee-Reported History Is Not a Credible Basis for Clinic,” Robert Barth, Ph.D., cites numerous studies confirming that claimants tend to misrepresent their pre-claim functioning as having been “superhuman,” and distort their reported history in a fashion that potentially inflates the financial compensation for their claims.

This forces defense attorneys to utilize alternative methods in their ongoing attempt to locate the pre-accident smoking gun:

• Jail medical records: In a recent Michigan case, a plaintiff admitted he previously suffered a closed head injury from a prior auto accident. However, he claimed that he never had seizures before a subsequent auto/pedestrian incident, and was not taking Depakote for seizures. There was a gap in his post-MVA treatment, and it was discovered he was incarcerated. Indeed, the jail medical records confirmed a year before the accident that he suffered a seizure and was taking Depakote, an anti-seizure medication, for his condition.
  
• MasterTrace: This service bears fruit, particularly when a plaintiff has no prior history of health insurance, and has lived in other states. MasterTrace performs an extensive canvass profile of hospitals and pharmacies within a certain designated radius and matches up with the plaintiff’s background information to come up with potential “hits.” However, this service can be expensive, depending on the nature of the search.
• Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMP): A PDMP is an electronic database that collects designated data on substances dispensed to a patient in the state. Thirty-seven states currently have PDMPs. On September 1, 2011, pharmacists in Florida began submitting data to the recently implemented Florida Prescription Drug Monitoring Program. Across the country, access to this information is restricted to physicians and law enforcement personnel. While defense attorneys are not able to subpoena the information, if you are lucky, the plaintiff’s treating physician may request a PDMP if he or she suspects drug abuse or doctor shopping. Generally, the physician will not supply a copy of the PDMP in a standard subpoena unless requested, or if you happen to come across it during a review of the actual file in a doctor’s deposition. If you do land such a report, it may provide an abundance of information, including prior treaters and pharmacies, and demonstrate evidence of pre-accident drug abuse.
  
• Veteran Administration Records: Do not skim over the fact that a plaintiff served in the military 40 years ago. He or she may still be treating and receiving prescriptions from your local VA hospital. Further, if a plaintiff is receiving a pension from the VA, he or she periodically has to undergo a disability determination, and fill out paperwork. It is always compelling to see what the plaintiff tells the VA, as compared to Social Security Disability, workers’ compensation, and plaintiff's own treaters during the identical time frame.
• Health Insurance Cards: Somewhere in every treater’s medical record, hospital’s intake sheet, or hidden deep within a prior auto accident claim file is a copy of plaintiff’s health insurance card (if he or she has one). If located, these health insurance records may provide a precise history of all prior hospital, doctor and pharmacy visits.

A plaintiff is not going to hand you his or her pre-accident history on a platter, so expect to do some extra digging. With enough persistence, you may ultimately discover a wealth of information that could undermine the plaintiff’s credibility and case.

Robert Abramson is an associate in the law firm of Kopka, Pinkus, Dolin & Eads in Farmington Hills, MI. He specializes in first-party, third-party and uninsured motorist claims in Michigan. Mr. Abramson is a member of DRI's Young Lawyers and Insurance Law Committees.

Jamie Oliver, a chef and a child advocate focused on ensuring kids receive proper nutrition through their school lunch programs as well as at home, has a television show, Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, showing how he changes eating habits in school districts (this season he is in Los Angeles).  In each episode, he creates a visual showing the terrible foods kids are putting in their bodies.  It’s one thing to tell kids (or their parents) that fast food and processed food is bad for them, it is quite another to create a visual showing how bad it is, and creating such a powerful visual that it convinces those kids, their parents and the audience watching the show (including myself) how bad those foods are.  In a recent episode, he filled a family’s house with all the fast food they consume in a year.  Every square inch of furniture and floor was covered.  In another episode, he filled a school bus with sugar to show how much sugar the school board permitted in the kids lunch meals over a year.  It was powerful images like those that made folks change their minds and change their behavior.

When preparing for trial, we can take a page out of Jamie’s book, and think about what visuals (whether a photograph, a diagram, an animation, or some other representation) that encapsulates our theme and does so in such a powerful manner that the image we create carries through the trial, into the deliberation room and turns the jurors’ hearts and minds toward our view-point and toward our position.  Keep a file folder in your office drawer where you include pictures, images and ideas you clip from magazines and newspapers.  These images may later serve you at trial.

Being that it is Monday, my partner Craig Salner has his weekly tip for young lawyers.  This week he discusses the importance of getting involved with social networking.  You can find his post at http://csalner.wordpress.com/.

Ad Age recently posted an article addressing the meteoric rise and overwhelming dominance of the smartphone.  At the end of this holiday season, over 50 percent of mobile phone users will be using a smartphone.  A year from now, that figure is projected to almost double, to 90 percent of mobile users.  Moreover, smartphone capabilities are growing almost as fast as their market saturation.  I regularly use my phone as a search tool, GPS, communications device (most of which centers on e-mail) and social hub, and I do not consider myself to be a “power user.”  Despite the amazing smartphone developments of the past 5 years, there are more on the horizon.  If the experts are right, we will soon be using our phones in place of our wallets, for identification and point of sale purchases.  Phones could be used to unlock and start our cars and to open our garage doors and set our home thermostats.  This week, conference attendees will be using the DRI smartphone App to keep track of their schedule and contact other attendees.  However, like most any “smart” device, the more we use our phones the more data we generate regarding our whereabouts, activities and lifestyles.

Attorneys used to subpoena cell phone records to see if litigants were on their phones at the time of an injury or during an auto accident.  Already, Historical Cellular Reconstruction (HCR) can be used to provide the history of a phone’s probable location, regardless of whether a user was actually on their phone.  HCR is not based on GPS data, but upon data and information maintained by the cellular provider related to a particular cell phone’s connection to a given cell tower.  Although HCR does not result in pinpoint precision, it can often place a phone within a very small vicinity.  If a user’s cell phone is turned on and the GPS is in operation, the precision increases dramatically.

Now attorneys look for information and material addressing whether a litigant was texting, surfing the web, on Facebook or taking one of virtually countless actions on their cell phones during the time of a given event, or in the hours and days leading up to a significant event.  Lawyers can use cell phone records to compare the location of a litigant to their claimed location.  This is particularly relevant where litigants, such as commercial drivers, are required to routinely log their position.  Records may indicate that an allegedly injured party went to an amusement park, or that an allegedly incapacitated person made a purchase.  The possibilities already seem endless, and as smartphone services continue to expand, so will the potential for using the resulting data in litigation.  As more and more opportunities are created by smartphone data, attorneys need to remain mindful of the fact that there may be data available that will impact their case.  

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will probably soon adopt new discovery and disclosure rules pertaining to Electronically Stored Information.  The Court has been presented with Proposed Recommendation No. 249 which modified Civil Procedure Rules 4009.1, 4009.11, 4009.12, 4009.21, 4009.23, and 4011 Governing Discovery of Electronically Stored Information with Explanatory Comment.  The Rule explains:

Though the term “electronically stored information” is used in these rules, there is no intent to incorporate the federal jurisprudence surrounding the discovery of electronically stored information. The treatment of such issues is to be determined by traditional principles of proportionality under Pennsylvania law as discussed in further detail below.

Sitting in Denver, I’m in no position to guess how the Pennsylvania Supreme Court determines “traditional principles of proportionality.”  But, when changes like this come, the defense bar should take advantage by understanding the rule change and how it can be used to aid in the representation of the client.  Sometimes, my best lessons in life come from living with a growing teenager.  The story, briefly, my daughter was told no e-mails, texts, etc.  She disobeyed the edict and trashed her communications thinking they would not be discovered.  Not very savy, but the retrieval of information from the recycle bin was simple.  She has now lost the ability for electronic communications for an “unfair” period of time. 

For the defense litigator, the story may have two lessons.  Foremost, you do not want your client to trash information that could be linked to the litigation where you are retained.  A reasonable computer forensic search will uncover the information and, if lost or corrupted, the spoliation instruction is damaging.  On the other hand, understanding that your opponent probably does not appreciate the rule change gives you an advantage.  You will know how you want to receive the information, you will be given the choice to “specify the format in which it is to be produced and a responding party or person not a party may object. If no format is specified by the requesting party, electronically stored information may be produced in the form in which it is ordinarily maintained or in a reasonably usable form.”  Rule 4009.1(b).  This gives you an advantage.  Use it to the benefit of the client’s case. 

These lessons, come, in part, from Judge Scheindlin’s sequel to Zubulake in Pension Committee of the Univ. of Montreal Pension Plan v. Banc of Am. Secs., LLC, 685 F. Supp. 2d 456, 463 (S.D.N.Y. 2010) where she made clear that the duty to preserve electronically stored information is practically absolute.  A litigation lawyer, must know that it is “abundantly clear that the duty to preserve means what it says and that a failure to preserve records—paper or electronic—and to search in the right places for those records, will inevitably result in the spoliation of evidence.

This case does not present any egregious examples of litigants purposefully destroying evidence. This is a case where plaintiffs failed to timely institute written litigation holds and engaged in careless and indifferent collection efforts after the duty to preserve arose. As a result, there can be little doubt that some documents were lost or destroyed.

The Pennsylvania litigation defense lawyer (and the rest of the DRIers) must now take the lead and upon retention and advise the client to suspend routine retention and destruction policies and warn the that the client must also preserve any information that could be considered evidence in the case.  Despite its efforts to distance itself from the federal court mandates, the Pennsylvania court now imposes on litigation attorneys, an affirmative obligation to gain a decent understanding of the client’s computer systems.  The same as in the federal arena.  It is no longer sufficient to suggest that litigation counsel be knowledgeable about their clients’ active and stored electronic data systems.  Upon the notice of litigation, the client must be told to immediately prepare an electronic storage log of the information related to the litigation.  This list is not inclusive but includes correspondence, motions, pleadings, original documents in pdf form, emails, zip drives, cd’s, or anything that could be remotely linked to storage of electronic information. 

Be careful out there.