On January 11, 2010, Judge Shira A. Scheindlin of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York entered an opinion advising businesses, litigants, and potential litigants to undertake preservation and collection of both paper and electronic documents with the most serious and thorough care to avoid the detour of sanctions resulting from discovery disputes. On January 15, 2010, Judge Scheindlin issued an amendment to her opinion in which she clarified some important points included herein. In Pension Committee of the University of Montreal Pension Plan v. Banc of America Securities, LLC, Judge Scheindlin entered sanctions against the plaintiffs for failing to preserve and produce documents, and for submitting false and misleading declarations regarding their document collection and preservation efforts. Judge Scheindlin did not enter sanctions because of any purposeful or willful destruction of evidence, but because the plaintiffs negligently or grossly negligently failed to timely institute written litigation holds and monitor collection efforts after the duty to preserve arose, which resulted in the loss of many relevant documents.
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