Court Enters Detailed Agreed Order Regarding Preservation of ESI, Documents and Other Tangible Items
In re Genetically Modified Rice Litig., 2007 WL 1655757 (E.D. Mo. June 5, 2007)
This order constitutes the parties’ Agreed Order Regarding Preservation of Communications, Documents, Electronic Data, and Other Tangible Items, intended to govern the parties’ preservation efforts in these consolidated MDL proceedings. The Agreed Order contains two parts: a lengthy definitional section and a section setting out specific preservation obligations. The latter section provides that the preservation obligations set forth in the Order apply to currently-existing evidence within the parties’ possession, custody, or control, as well as evidence "generated, produced, or otherwise created in the future during the pendency of this Action until an agreement can be reached among the Parties regarding a cutoff date.” It further provides: “Notwithstanding any other provision of this Order, persons may generate business documents without preserving dictation, drafts, interim versions or other temporary compilations of information if such documents would not have been preserved in the ordinary course of business.”
The Agreed Order further provides: