Litigation Holds and E-Discovery Demands - Law technology News

Everyone deletes email from time to time. No harm, no foul, right? Not so if you're a party to litigation. Recent decisions may have lawyers scrambling to find e-discovery consultants to advise clients on the preservation of evidence. One such decision, Einstein v. 357 LLC, held that a party's deletion of email after litigation has commenced is tantamount to spoliation of evidence and necessarily entitles the opposing party to an adverse inference.  Read More »

 For Judges on Facebook, Friendship Has Limits - New York Times

As Facebook, the popular social networking site, becomes more ubiquitous, Florida Judges are being put on notice about the potential breach of an ethical boundary.

Earlier this month Florida's Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee has set limits on judicial  online behavior. According to the New York Times the committee stated in its opinion that when judges "friend" lawyers online it "creates the appearance of a conflict of interest, since it 'reasonably conveys to others the impression that these lawyer "friends" are in a special position to influence the judge.'"  Read More »

Can the law keep up with technology? - CNN.com

Social Networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have become popular forums for users to air their grievances. However, users are beginning to realize that the same rules of libel that apply to old print media also apply to the new social platforms.

An Illinois Real Estate Firm filed a libel claim against one of its tenants after the tentant allegedly posted the following "tweet" on Twitter: "Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon Realty thinks it's okay."  Horizon Management LLC is seeking $50,000 in damages for the alleged tweet.  Read More »

Virtual World Feudalism - The Yale Law Journal

New York Law School Associate Professor James Grimmelmann poses the questions "What is the political relationship between [software] developers and users?" and "Should we treat in-[virtual] world objects as property?".  Grimmelmann explores these questions by drawing a comparison between the power that software developers have over their "tenants" and the power that feudal lords wielded over their subjects.  Read More »

Online divorcee jailed after killing virtual hubby - Associated Press and Yahoo News

What are the real world penalties for killing someone's virtual world digital avatar after a sudden and painful virtual divorce?  And what if the alleged perpetrator's avatar has cause to take action due to mistreatment by her former virtual spouse?  (And for that matter, what if both individuals are also married in "real life", but to different people?)

"I was suddenly divorced, without a word of warning. That made me so angry," the (real) woman was quoted as saying in Japan.  If convicted, she could face up to five years of prison or a fine of up to $5000.  Read More »