Who won this case: Can company search her home computer for evidence?
Filed under: Document retention, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Security and law
An employee claims co-workers harassed her by sending lewd e-mails but she cant prove those messages exist because she saved them to her home computer, which crashed, deleting everything on the hard drive. Can the company examine the computer to see if her story holds water?
The facts:
An employee claimed some of her co-workers sexually harassed by sending her obscene e-mails. According to her, they were sent to a personal address and saved on her home computer. Then the computer crashed, and she lost everything on the drive. So she couldnt present any of the alleged messages for evidence. Smelling something fishy, the company asked to have a tech expert examine the machine to try and prove the e-mails never existed.
The company said:
The employees story was suspicious and her computer would likely contain evidence about what was really going on. However, she argued that letting the company inspect her personal property would be an invasion of privacy.
Who won? The company.
Why: Courts require all parties in a lawsuit to turn over evidence relevant to the case that includes electronic documents like e-mails and, in some cases, the devices those things are stored on. So the company was right in asking for the computer to be examined.
Electronic discovery rules (or, e-discover) have made big news lately when companies have been slammed with big fines for violating the rules (including a recent $8 million sanction leveled against Qualcomm). But as this case shows, companies can also use the rules to their advantage by uncovering evidence that may help them win in court.
Cite: Orrell v. Motorcarparts of America, Inc.
Comments
2 Comments on Who won this case: Can company search her home computer for evidence?
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Mike Riordan on
Tue, 1st Apr 2008 1:47 pm
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Sam Narisi on
Wed, 2nd Apr 2008 9:55 am
It is interesting to note, that this employee was terminated and then filed the lawsuit. She had wiped her company laptop clean with “Evidence Eliminator.” She had forwarded to her husband at another company and to her own email address evidence of harrassing emails. In order to defend itself from the complaint the company asked the judge to inspect the home computer AND the husbands emails at another company. The court allowed the home computer to be inspected AND ordered that evidence be preserved.
I am not sure what that means for the husband’s company and that company’s privacy and trade secrets, but it does cause some pause.
That’s an interesting aspect of the case, too. Because of the concerns about privacy and trade secrets, the court’s only allowing the home computer to be inspected; BUT the judge said: “Should the ordered examination reveal, however, that there reasonably may be otherwise unavailable responsive information on either of these computers, the Defendant may renew its Motion, giving proper notice to the owner(s).”
In other words, they might get their hands on the other company’s computer some day.
