Electronic Discovery — Litigation Hold Letters, Although Privileged or Work Product, Are Discoverable on a Prima Facie Showing of Spoliation From Major Tours, Inc. v. Colorel, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68128 (D.N.J. Aug. 4, 2009):

As a general matter hold letters are not discoverable, particularly when a party has made an adequate showing that the letters include material protected under attorney-client privilege or the work-product doctrine. See In re eBay Seller Antitrust Litigation, No. 07-CV-01882(RS), 2007 WL 2852364, at *2 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 2, 2007). See also Gibson v. Ford Motor Co., 510 F. Supp. 2d 1116, 1123 (N.D. Ga. 2007)(finding that defendants are not required to produce litigation hold letters because "[n]ot only is the document likely to constitute attorney work-product, but its compelled production could dissuade other businesses from issuing such instructions in the event of litigation"); Muro v. Target Corp., 250 F.R.D. 350, 360 (N.D. Ill. 2007)(denying plaintiff's objection to Magistrate's ruling that Target's litigation hold notices are subject to the attorney-client privilege and to work-product protection); Turner v. Resort Condos. Int'l, No. 03-CV-2025(DFH), 2006 WL 1990379, at *7-8 (S.D. Ind. July 13, 2006)(accepting defendant's assertion that its litigation hold document is privileged and denying plaintiff's motion to compel defendant to produce the document in discovery). Despite the fact that plaintiffs typically do not have the automatic right to obtain copies of a defendant's litigation hold letters, plaintiffs are entitled to know which categories of electronic storage information employees were instructed to preserve and collect, and what specific actions they were instructed to undertake to that end. In re eBay, 2007 WL 2852364, at *2.

Although in general hold letters are privileged, the prevailing view, which the Court adopts, is that when spoliation occurs the letters are discoverable. See Keir v. UnumProvident Corp., No. 02-CV-8781(DLC), 2003 WL 21997747 at *6 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 22, 2003)(allowing detailed analysis of emails pertaining to defendant's preservation efforts after finding that electronic records which had been ordered preserved had been erased). See also Zubulake v. UBS Warburg LLC, 229 F.R.D. 422, 425 nn. 15-16 (S.D.N.Y. 2004) ("Zubulake V")(disclosing the details of counsel's litigation hold communication after discovering that at least one e-mail had never been produced); Cache La Poudre Feeds, LLC v. Land O'Lakes, Inc., 244 F.R.D. 614, 634 (D. Colo. 2007)(permitting plaintiff to take a Rule 30(b)(6) deposition to explore the procedures defendants' counsel took "to identify, preserve and produce responsive documents" after finding that defendants expunged the hard drives of several former employees after the present litigation had began). ****

The decision in United Medical Supply Co. v. United States, 77 Fed. Cl. 257 (Fed. Cl. 2007), is instructive. In that case the court ordered production of defendant's hold letters after finding that the defendant spoliated evidence. The facts of the case were such that the hold letters were not received by a number of the desired recipients and as a result, some of the documents requested in discovery were destroyed.... Initially the court ordered the defendant to file affidavits discussing how the missing documents had been handled.... Accord Keir v. UnumProvident Corp., No. 02-CV-8781(DLC), 2003 WL 21997747, at *3 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 22, 2003) (requiring defendants to provide an affidavit explaining why emails from certain enumerated dates are no longer in existence). Shortly thereafter the court ordered defendant to file and produce copies of any general notices defendant sent, either in paper or electronic form, to all affected facilities requesting or relating to the preservation of relevant documents....

Here, as in United Medical, the Court finds there has been a preliminary showing of spoliation of evidence. In making this finding the Court relies on defendants' Fed. R. Civ. P. 30(b)(6) testimony in which Plaintiffs asked Defendants' witnesses about their litigation hold efforts. When Michael Colorel, Principal Investigator for the CBIU, was asked on February 8, 2007 whether he was advised by his lawyers to preserve his email communications regarding claims of racial discrimination, he answered that he was "probably" told by his lawyers to do so, but additionally admitted, "I don't sa[v]e anything." ... Maryann Mazon, another Rule 30(b)(6) witness, testified on April 3, 2008 that no one ever talked to her about creating a litigation hold policy and that she was not sure what a litigation hold policy was.***