How E-Discovery Can Make or Break Your Case in Court

April 6, 2007 by Michael Law
Filed under: Business Law, Contract Law

Let’s say you own a radio station in Florida, and let’s call it WTKE, for example. Back in 2003, you sign an agreement to sell your radio station to a company we’ll call Quantum Communications. As part of that agreement, you promise not to continue to shop your radio station for sale. You agree to sell your radio station to Quantum for $3,000,000.

It takes awhile for the sale to go through, but while it is in process, Quantum gets wind that you may be trying to sell your radio station to someone else, let’s say a company called Cumulus Media, so they sue you. Quantum also alleges that you’re doing everything possible to stymie the sale of your radio station. You deny everything.

Young Law Students Listen to Sports Talk Radio? While Studying for the LSAT? Yes. Once the lawsuit starts, Quantum’s lawyers request copies of your computer’s hard drive, and all the emails that are on it. They apparently get nowhere. Undeterred, Quantum’s lawyers subpoena the hard drive of the president of Cumulus, which contain a series of emails between you and Cumulus’s president.

On that hard drive, Quantum finds a series of email that appear to show you were trying to sell your radio station to Cumulus for $3,750,000.

Oops.

Quantum gets this E-discovery evidence in front of the judge, who orders you to sell your radio station to Quantum for the originally agreed-upon purchase price of $3M, and issues a scathing ruling about your denial of violating the agreement and misleading the court.

Guess who’s going to get to pay Quantum’s attorneys fees?

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