For the third day in a row, the Wall Street Journal (subscription required for access to all articles), has had a front page reminder of the importance to businesses and their lawyers of “getting it right” when it comes to having control over electronic data that must be produced in the course of a lawsuit. The story today continues to chronicle the woe suffered by Morgan Stanley as a result of a partial summary judgment granted against it by a judge who determined that such a penalty was warranted as a result of their alleged failure to comply with e-data disclosure requirements in the suit brought by Coleman, Inc.–regardless of the merits of the claims or defenses.
I am giving a seminar today on electronic discovery and the articles in The Wall Street Journal could not be more timely to emphasize how important this aspect of litigation is. Morgan Stanley has learned that lesson at the cost of a $604 million verdict and they are now in the midst of the punitive damages hearing before the same Florida jury that could triple that amount.