The 21st Century Water Cooler: Discovery And Text Messages

Text messages, once the exclusive domain of teenagers and college students, are increasingly used in business communications. These communications are, unsurprisingly, also discoverable in a wide variety of litigation contexts, from employment lawsuits to products liability actions. Most importantly, courts, such as the Eastern District of Louisiana in U.S. v. Mix (United States v. Mix, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 146848)and the District of Colorado in Christou v. Beatport, LLC (Christou v. Beatport, LLC, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9034), have issued sanctions against litigants who have failed to preserve text messages.

As a first step in managing the risk of text messages in a company, it is important to evaluate the extent to which employees use text messages as a business communication tool. This is particularly important in organizations that have adopted a "bring your own device" approach to mobile device management, as the company must enumerate its rights with regard