THE SEDONA CONFERENCE® “VOICES FROM THE DESERT” WEBINAR SERIES PRESENTS “ZUBULAKE REVISITED? DISSECTING THE PENSION COMMITTEE V. BANC OF AMERICA OPINION” – WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2010 AT 1:00 PM EASTERN

The first major judicial opinion on e-discovery for 2010 was delivered by a judge who was already a distinguished jurist in the field and it harkened back to a landmark decision from the past. The January 15 Amended Opinion and Order in Pension Committee of the University of Montreal Pension Plan, et al. v. Banc of America Securities, LLC, et al. was titled “Zubulake Revisited: Six Years Later [pdf]” by its author, Hon. Shira A. Scheindlin of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, who stated, “Once again, I have been compelled to closely review the discovery efforts of parties in a litigation, and once again have found that these efforts were flawed. As famously noted, ‘[t]hose who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’”

Pension Committee details the data preservation efforts of 13 plaintiff investors who joined an action to recover an alleged half-billion dollars in losses from the liquidation of two British Virgin Islands-based hedge funds. More to the point, the opinion details the lack of preservation efforts by the plaintiffs, finding that seven of the plaintiffs acted negligently and six of the plaintiffs acted with gross negligence, resulting in the probable loss or destruction of relevant data, and requiring further discovery, monetary sanctions, and a carefully-crafted spoliation instruction to the jury. In her lengthy opinion [pdf], Judge Scheindlin discusses the duty of preservation and what it requires of parties, distinguishes between the various levels of culpability in the plaintiffs’ conduct, explores the shifting burdens of proof in spoliation claims, and sets out the appropriate remedies for the failure to preserve electronically stored information in litigation.

In this webinar, our distinguished panel will take a careful look at the Pension Committee opinion and what it teaches all of us – plaintiffs, defendants, and the Judiciary – about the duty of preservation and the sanctions for spoliation. The panel will be moderated by Ken Withers (Director of Judicial Education and Content, The Sedona Conference®) and will include Hon. Elizabeth Laporte (United States Magistrate Judge in the Northern District of California) attorneys Jonathan Redgrave (Nixon Peabody LLP) and Jennifer Young (Milberg LLP), and veteran e-discovery technical expert John Jessen (Datacon/Electronic Evidence Discovery).

TO REGISTER and for more details, please go to our WGS Audio Update Series homepage. The registration fee for this program is only $99 for the general public and $79 for members of The Sedona Conference® Working Group Series.

Once registered, you will be able to listen to the discussion by telephone, view PowerPoint slides, download selected program materials, and ask questions during a question-and-comment period.

1.25 HOUR OF MCLE ACCREDITATION will be applied for in the following jurisdictions:

California
Georgia
Illinois
Indiana
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Nevada
Tennessee
Texas
Wisconsin

Each person who wants to receive MCLE credit must register and participate INDIVIDUALLY. Group or location registration will not be recognized for MCLE credit.

Follow this link for more information about the ruling
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