eDiscovery Daily Blog

• December 21, 2010

Yesterday, we introduced the Virtual LegalTech online educational session Facing the Legal Dangers of Social Media and discussed what factors a social media governance policy should address.  To get background information regarding the session, including information about the speakers (Harry Valetk, Daniel Goldman and Michael Lackey), click here.

The session also addressed social media in litigation, discussing several considerations about social media, including whether it’s discoverable, how it’s being used in litigation, how to request it, how to preserve it, and how to produce it.  Between wall postings, status updates, personal photos, etc., there’s a lot of content out there and it’s just as discoverable as any other source of ESI – depending on its relevance to the case and the burden to collect, review and produce.  The relevance of privacy settings may be a factor in the discoverability of this information as at least one case, Crispin v. Christian Audigier, Inc.,(C.D. Cal. May 26, 2010), held that private email messaging on Facebook, MySpace and Media Temple was protected as private.

So, how is social media content being used in litigation?  Here are some examples:

• Show Physical Health: A person claiming to be sick or injured at work who has photos on their Facebook profile showing them participating in strenuous recreation activities;
• Discrimination and Harassment: Statements made online which can be considered discriminatory or harassing or if the person “likes” certain groups with “hate” agendas;
• False Product Claims: Statements online about a product that are not true or verifiable;
• Verify or Refute Alibis: Social media content (photos, location tracking, etc.) can verify or refute alibis provided by suspects in criminal cases;
• Pre-Sentencing Reports: Social media content can support or refute claims of remorse – in one case, the convicted defendant was sentenced more harshly because of statements made online that refuted his statements of remorse in the courtroom;
• Info Gathering: With so much information available online, you can gather information about opposing parties, witnesses, attorneys, judges, or even jurors.  In some cases, attorneys have paid firms to ensure that positive information will bubble to the top when jurors “Google” those attorneys.  And, in Ohio, at least, judges may not only have Facebook friends, but those friends can include attorneys appearing before them (interesting…).

If possible, request the social media content from your opponent as the third-party provider will probably fight having to provide the content, usually citing the Stored Communications Act.  As noted previously on this blog, Facebook and Twitter have guidelines for requesting data – through subpoena and law enforcement agencies.

Social media content is generally stored by third-party Software as a Service (SaaS) providers (Facebook and Twitter are examples of SaaS providers), so it’s important to be prepared to address several key eDiscovery issues to proactively prepare to be able to preserve and produce the data for litigation purposes, just as you would with any SaaS provider.

So, what do you think?  Has your organization been involved in litigation where social media content was requested?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.