Electronic Discovery Law

Posted at 10:13 AM on April 12, 2006 by K&L Gates

Court Orders Preservation of Evidence, Enjoining Former Employees From Wiping Clean Any Computer Hard Drive Containing Relevant Evidence

ACS Consultant Co., Inc. v. Williams, 2006 WL 897559 (E.D. Mich. Apr. 6, 2006)

In this case, plaintiff was in the business of providing information technology and management consultant services, principally to health care providers. Defendants were former employees and a company in which one of the former employees was a principal. After discovering evidence that the individual defendants had violated the terms of their employment contracts, plaintiff terminated them and filed an 11 count verified complaint seeking injunctive and other relief. Plaintiff obtained a TRO enjoining the defendants from violating the terms of their employment agreements, and also sought a preliminary injunction. Following a hearing during which the court took evidence regarding the alleged wrongful acts by defendants, the court granted a preliminary injunction enjoining defendants, among other things:

-from deleting or destroying any of plaintiff's confidential business information, trade secrets, proprietary information or property;

-from taking any action to delete, destroy, damage or "wipe clean" any computer hard drive, including without limitation their plaintiff-issued laptops and Blackberrys, containing plaintiff's confidential information or evidence relevant to this case

In addition, the court ordered the defendants to "preserve all evidence, including hard copies, electronic, computer, or any other format, which in any way relates to the claims made in this case."

Trackbacks (0) Links to blogs that reference this article Trackback URL

Comments (0) Read through and enter the discussion with the form at the end

This blog/Web site is made available by the contributing lawyers or law firm publisher solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general legal principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. By using this blog/Web site, you understand that there is no attorney client relationship intended or formed between you and the blog/Web site publisher or any contributing lawyer. The blog/Web site should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.

K&L Gates includes lawyers practicing out of more than 40 fully integrated offices located in North America, Europe, Asia, South America, and the Middle East, and represents numerous GLOBAL 500, FORTUNE 100, and FTSE 100 corporations, in addition to growth and middle market companies, entrepreneurs, capital market participants and public sector entities. For more information about K&L Gates or its locations and registrations, visit www.klgates.com.

Portions of this Web site may contain Attorney Advertising under the rules of some states. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

e-Discovery Analysis & Technology group at K&L Gates, offering services related to ediscovery, review of electronic documents, electronic discovery and electronic evidence discovery.
K&L Gates LLP
925 Fourth Avenue, Suite 2900, Seattle, Washington 98104-1158
p. 206.623.7580, f. 206.623.7022