Who Pays for E-Mail Discovery?

An article in today’s Wall Street Journal (subscription required), reports that Judge Scheindlin (S.D.N.Y.) has ordered UBS Warburg, despite the brokerage firm’s concern about excessive cost, to pay for the retrieval of certain e-mails relating to an employment discrimination case. The authors speculate that the ruling will be cited in future investor class action suits to justify requiring Wall Street firms to pay for extensive e-mail discovery. Although the article specifically mentions the IPO allocation cases, it inexplicably fails to note that these cases are, in fact, before Judge Scheindlin.

Quote of note: “The judge set out a new standard for determining when a defendant must produce e-mails that includes such factors as ‘the importance of the issue at stake in the litigation’ and how much the retrieval will cost ‘compared to the amount in controversy.'”