It was a tragedy. The 1977 plane crash that killed Ronnie Van Zant and Steven Gaines almost ended the band Lynyrd Skynyrd forever. In the wake of the crash, the survivors swore an oath never again to perform as “Lynyrd Skynyrd.” That oath made its way to court where it would be memorialized in a 1988 Consent Order outlining how and when surviving members could use the name “Lynyrd Skynyrd.”
Not an LOL Matter: Court Provides Guidance on Steps Litigants Should Take to Preserve Text Messages
We’ve all been there. Your friends throw you in the pool with your phone in your pocket. You repeatedly slice your finger on shards of glass from your phone’s shattered screen. Or, maybe you forget your phone isn’t waterproof and dump champagne all over it. For most of us, the worst part of these ordeals is a trip to the Apple Store and the hefty price tag of the latest iPhone. However, if you’re a litigant with text messages that are relevant to pending litigation, the failure to preserve those messages could result in spoliation sanctions or an adverse inference instruction. While case law is unlikely to provide insight on what to do with a champagne-covered, non-waterproof phone, a recent district court decision, Shaffer v. Gaither, provides guidance to litigants on what steps to take to preserve potentially-relevant electronically-stored information (“ESI”) stored on mobile devices.