Who pays for discovery of E-mail?

Who pays for discovery of E-mail?. Lexis One is reporting on a story that is likely to be of interest to litigators who deal with discovery of electronic mail:

“UBS Warburg was ordered this week to pay for the search and recovery of e-mail messages requested by a plaintiff, giving aggrieved investors a new legal tool to support their cases against investment banks.

Shira A. Scheindlin, a judge in the southern district of New York, said that UBS had to dig into its archives and pay for the restoration of a limited batch of e-mail messages sought by a former employee who is suing the firm for sexual discrimination and retaliatory dismissal.

 Judge Scheindlin's opinion, delivered on Tuesday, is already being referred to by lawyers representing investors and investment banks as a definitive piece of jurisprudence. It suggests that investment banks will have to take responsibility and pay for the recovery of e-mail messages as long as plaintiffs can demonstrate that the evidence sought is relevant to their cases. “

How far “into its archives” will it have to dig?  Are judges aware of backup tapes?  Are attorneys aware of them?

I think that a new aresenal in discovery is going to be the 30(b)(6) deposition of the IT person at an organization, who can be used to ferret out the information is electronically archived and who can be asked how burdensome it would be to retrieve it.  [Ernie the Attorney]

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