DOJ May Revise Electronic Discovery Procedures After 9th Cir. Ruling
A recent federal appeals court ruling provides an unusually detailed roadmap to prosecutors about appropriate electronic discovery parameters and procedures and could create a sea change in the way the U.S. Department of Justice handles such evidence, a law firm newsletter predicts.
The en banc ruling late last month by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a baseball steroids testing case not only limits the scope of electronic material that can be sought but provides mechanisms for monitoring compliance with those limits, says Mayer Brown in its White Collar Defense & Compliance, Electronic Discovery & Records Management Update.
In the past, “for the most part, courts have permitted the government to gather overbroad quantities of data for later analysis, with no meaningful mechanisms for the court to monitor, or for the impacted business to challenge, that analysis,” the newsletter states.
The case (PDF) is U.S. v. Comprehensive Drug Testing Inc., No. 15-10067 (Aug. 26, 2009).
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Feds Intentionally Overreached Seizing 100 MLB Steroids Tests, 9th Cir. Rules”
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