Also known as: ESI · electronically-stored information · electronic information
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Information stored in electronic form rather than on paper or other tangible media. The term encompasses email, database records, digital files, and data compilations maintained on computers, servers, or cloud platforms. Federal rules treat such information as subject to discovery, production, and evidentiary authentication when it accurately reflects the underlying data.
Elena Estrada, counsel for Eclipse Manufacturing, receives an email from opposing counsel that includes a spreadsheet of internal sales projections. She immediately recognizes that the attachment was not meant for her because it references a confidential settlement offer. Estrada stops reviewing the file and notifies the sender within the hour so the sender can seek its return.
Police officers arrest Edgar Evers after a database query returns an outstanding warrant. The warrant entry is stored only in an electronic records system maintained by a neighboring jurisdiction. When the entry is later found to be erroneous, the validity of the arrest turns on whether the electronic record qualifies as the type of information officers may reasonably rely upon.
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Equinox Energy faces a document request for employee emails from three years earlier. The messages exist only on backup tapes that require specialized restoration. The company must decide whether to preserve the tapes or allow routine overwriting, knowing that failure to retain the electronically stored information could later trigger sanctions if litigation is reasonably anticipated.
A party must take reasonable steps to preserve electronically stored information once litigation is reasonably anticipated. Failure to do so can result in sanctions if the information is lost and cannot be restored, with the court limited to measures necessary to cure prejudice unless the loss was intentional.
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No. A party need not produce electronically stored information in more than one form even if the requesting party specifies a different format in the request.
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The lawyer must promptly notify the sender if the lawyer knows or reasonably should know that the information was inadvertently transmitted. This duty applies to email attachments and other electronic files that were accidentally included with intended transmissions.
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Any printout or other output readable by sight qualifies as an original if it accurately reflects the information. The rule treats such output the same as the electronic file itself for purposes of the best evidence rule.
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…Squibb , 205 F.R.D. at 443 (“For a more comprehensive analysis of cost allocation and cost shifting regarding production of electronic information in a different factual context, counsel are directed to the recent opinion in [Rowe] .”). [^maj-63]: See Murphy Oil , 2002 WL 246439; Bristol-Myers Squibb , 205 F.R.D. 437; Byers ,…