Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
to.believe.Vanaire.was.using.their.software.without.a.license..
The.vice.president.at.Vanaire.did.what.some.would.consider.
a.reasonable.thing.and.ordered.all.of.the.unlicensed.software.
to.be.deleted.from.their.company's.computers.
However,. here's. the. rub:. that. phone. call. from. KCH. to.
Vanaire.was.considered.notice.of.litigation.by.the.court..They.
basically.said.to.Vanaire,.“You.should.have.known.that.KCH.
is.a.very.litigious.organization.and.that.when.they.called.you.
like.that,.it.was.extremely.likely.that.litigation.would.follow.”
Vanaire.tried.to.argue.that.under.the.Safe.Harbor.rule.(I'm.
sure.you.remember.reading.about.that.under.Rule.37.(f).in.
the.Federal.Rules.of.Civil.Procedure.above),.they.should.not.
be.sanctioned..They.said.that.this.was.part.of.their.“routine.
and.good.faith”.business.practices.
The.court.disagreed.and.said.the.deletion.in.this.case.was.
not.covered.by.the.Safe.Harbor.rule.because.Vanaire.should.
have.realized.by.virtue.of.that.phone.call.that.they.would.be.
sued. and. that. therefore. that. application. being. on. the. com-
puters. would. be. considered. relevant. evidence. that. must. be.
preserved.and.produced.in.court.
The. court. ordered. adverse. inference. instruction. to. the.
jury,.basically.telling.them.to.assume.that.the.plaintiff's.claims.
of. Vanaire's. having. used. the. software. without. license. were.
true.even.though.there.was.no.evidence.existing.on.the.com-
puters.anymore.
The. lesson. here. is. to. really. think. about. what. can. and.
should.be.considered.a.trigger.for.a.reasonable.expectation.
of.litigation..Spend.time.working.with.your.legal.counsel.to.
set.those.expectations.and.the.procedures.that.you.will.fol-
low.to.put.a.litigation.hold.in.place.to.preserve.the.relevant.
electronic.evidence.
1.2.3.6. .Olson.v..Sax.(E..D..Wis..
6/25/10)—Safe.Harbor.Rule
In. this. case,. the. plaintiff. Olson. was. terminated. for. theft.
of. company. property.. The. actual. theft. was. recorded. on.
