eDiscovery analysis reveals companies struggle most with preservation

Contributed by Roumiana Deltcheva (Mercredi, 08 décembre 2010) | Category : eDiscovery

Companies are continuing to struggle with the preservation stage of the eDiscovery process, according to the results of a data management company's analysis of 84 prominent cases.

The firm studied litigation that occurred between January 1 and October 31 of this year and found failure to follow email archiving best practices was a prevailing trend.

Thirty-nine percent of cases studied dealt with sanctions. Of those, 49 percent pertained to preservation and spoliation issues. Another 2 percent of cases addressed preservation and spoliation issues, but not in terms of sanctions.

All told, sanctions were levied in 23 of the 33 cases in which they were addressed, according to the report.

“Information management and discovery protocols and processes are far from clear for most organizations," said Michele Lange, an eDiscovery expert with the company that conducted the analysis.

Eighteen percent of cases addressed various production considerations and 17 percent dealt with search protocol and cooperation problems.

A separate survey conducted by a litigation support services provider somewhat contradicts this analysis. According to that poll, 55 percent of respondents said data collection was the most difficult eDiscovery stage, with many citing large volumes of ESI as the reason.