Handy-Dandy Checklist for Admissibility of Electronic Evidence

[Bexis]

For years we’ve advocated about ediscovery for defendants – consisting mostly of material gathered from a plaintiff’s social media postings.  OK, so let’s assume some degree of success.  Defense-side ediscovery has generated some good stuff, and come trial, we want to get it admitted into evidence.  Now what?

That’s the subject of today’s rather short post.  Since we’re hardly the source of all useful information, we’d like to pass along a handy 4-page checklist for the admissibility of electronic evidence.  It covers evidence in the form of:  e-mail, internet website posts; text messages/tweets; computer stored information; animations and simulations; and digital photos.  It has the following headings:

1. Preliminary Rulings on Admissibility

2. Is the Evidence Relevant?

3. If Relevant, Is It Authentic?

4. Is Evidence Hearsay?

5 Original Writing Rule

6 Practice Tips

It’s what it purports to be – a checklist – it doesn’t provide case law, but it’s the kind of thing that lends itself to use in trial, rather than pretrial, situations.

This nifty guide was prepared jointly by Hon. Paul W. Grimm and Kevin F. Brady of Redgrave LLP, so give credit where credit is due.  We’ve been in touch with both of them, and they have graciously allowed us to disseminate their work.