U.S. Government Not Exempt from Electronic Discovery Obligations

http://ow.ly/70hUc

A blog post by John M. Blumenschein on the guidancesoftware.com website.

This article discusses a recent criminal case opinion, in which the court held that the U.S. government is not free from eDiscovery obligations that apply to private litigants.

The author states, "United States Magistrate Judge Hugh Scott of the Western District of New York recently ordered the U.S. Government to provide a defendant with electronically stored information (ESI) in its native format or a searchable manner in United States v. Briggs et al, 2011 WL 4017886 (W.D.N.Y. Sept. 8, 2011)" A link to the opinion is provided in the article.

The article goes on to further state, "As noted earlier, Judge Scott sees a problem with a lack of guidance from the criminal rules on the mode of production of documents in criminal cases. “The problem now is that, absent a rule, each judge faced with a motion to compel criminal discovery with ESI data will have to devise his or her own scheme.” U.S. v. Briggs at 6.
Although electronic discovery disputes in criminal matters are not as pervasive as they are in federal civil litigation, it is an issue that is on the rise."