Law Commons^™

Discoverability Of "Deleted" E-Mail: Time For A Closer Examination , Michael Marron

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment will argue that the discovery rules presently require disclosure of an unacceptable amount of information. Part II of this Comment will outline some of e-mail's advantages over other communications media to help explain the rapid rise in e-mail use. Part III will then explain, in layman's terms, how e-mail actually works and discuss some of the reasons why e-mail archives are often considered as likely to contain “smoking gun” messages—the kind of evidence that can drastically affect the outcome of a case. But what is it about e-mail that can make it such a potent evidentiary weapon? The …