On January 11, 2010, Judge Scheindlin, who authored the
groundbreaking Zubulake opinions, issued a new opinion
regarding sanctions in eDiscovery.1 Pension Comm. of
the Univ. of Montreal Pension Plan v. Banc of Am. Scs., 2010
U.S. Dist. Lexis 1839 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 11, 2010), involved an action
against defendants who were connected to a hedge fund that lost
money. These defendants sought sanctions against the plaintiffs for
their alleged failure to properly preserve and produce documents,
including electronically-stored information, and for submitting
false declarations relating to their collection and production
efforts.
In an 87-page opinion, Judge Scheindlin addressed key issues,
including the definition of negligence, gross negligence and
willfulness in the discovery context, and what types of conduct
constitute this type of behavior. Judge Scheindlin also reviewed
the law governing the imposition of sanctions for failure to
produce electronically-stored information.
