8315 - LITIGATION HOLD PROCEDURE

Greenwood Community School Corporation

Administrative Guidelines

8315 - LITIGATION HOLD PROCEDURE

A litigation hold is a procedure that identifies and preserves information relevant to a matter by identifying individuals in possession or custody of paper documents, electronically stored information ("ESI") and electronic media storing ESI, and informing them of their obligation to preserve such information outside the "records retention schedule." Third parties with control or custody of paper documents, ESI or electronic media storing ESI also are notified of the litigation hold and requested to preserve that information until notified otherwise. All information covered by a litigation hold must be preserved prospectively and cannot be disposed of under the School Corporation's records retention schedule until the litigation hold is removed.

Definitions

"Information" includes all paper documents and ESI.

"Documents" includes but is not limited to writings, drawings, graphs, charts, photographs, blueprints, sound recordings, images, and other data or data compilations stored in any medium from which information can be obtained or translated if necessary.

"ESI" includes but is not limited to writings, drawings, graphs, charts, photographs, blueprints, sound recordings, images, and other data or data compilations stored in any electronic media from which information can be obtained or translated if necessary. It includes but is not limited to e-mails, e-mail attachments, instant messages, word processing files, spreadsheets, pictures, application program and data files, databases, data files, metadata, system files, electronic calendar appointments, scheduling program files, TIFF files, PDF files, MPG files, JPG files, GIF files, network share files, internal websites, external websites, newsgroups, directories, security and access information, legacy data, audio recordings, voice mails, phone logs, faxes, internet histories, caches, cookies, or logs of activity on computer systems that may have been used to process or store electronic data.

"Electronic media" includes but is not limited to hard drives (including portable hard disk drives "HDD's"), floppy drives, disaster recovery media, and storage media (including DVD's CD's, floppy discs, Zip discs/drives, Jazz discs/drives, USB memory drives, jump discs/drives, flash discs/drives, keychain discs/drives, thumb discs/drives, smart cards, micro-film, backup tapes, cassette tapes, cartridges, etc.), accessed, used and/or stored on/in/through the following locations: networks and servers; laptop and desktop work computers; home and personal computers; other computer systems; backup computers or servers; archives; wireless communication device as defined in Bylaw 0100; pagers; firewalls; audit trails and logs, printers; copiers; scanners; digital cameras; photographic devices; or video cameras and devices. Electronic media also shall include any item containing or maintaining ESI that is obtained by the Corporation for School Board member or employee usage or that a Board member or employee uses for such purpose (even if privately owned by the Board member or employee) from the date this policy is adopted into the future.

Documents Subject to a Litigation Hold

Any Board member or employee who receives specific information and/or written notification regarding one of the following instances shall immediately provide that information and/or written notification to the Superintendent:

	A.	an individual, parent or student intends to appeal a student discipline or special education decision to State or Federal court;

	B.	the Board member or employee becomes aware that litigation is imminent, even though the litigation has not yet been filed in Federal or State court;

	C.	the Board is served with litigation, including but not limited to notice of a lawsuit in Federal or State court, notice of an administrative appeal, or notice of a student disciplinary or special education appeal to State or Federal court;


	D.	the Board member or employee becomes aware that an employee, labor union, or other person intends to file a claim against the Board, its members, Corporation employees, or agents of the Corporation at an administrative agency, such as but not limited to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Indiana Civil Rights Commission, U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, or the Indiana Education Employment Relations Board;

	E.	an administrative agency, such as but not limited to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Indiana Civil Rights Commission, U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, or the Indiana Education Employment Relations Board intends to investigate a claim against the Board, its members, Corporation employees, or agents of the Corporation;

	F.	a third party requests that a Board member or employee maintain information that could be at issue in litigation or potential litigation against that third party;

	G.	the Superintendent recommends the termination of an employee to the Board pursuant to Indiana statutes, a collective bargaining agreement or an employment contract;

	H.	the Board is exploring, contemplating or initiating litigation.

Upon receipt, the Superintendent shall review the specific information and/or written notification to determine whether Policy 8315 - Information Management applies. If it does, the Superintendent shall initiate a litigation hold applicable to all relevant information. The Superintendent also shall notify the Board Board's legal counsel to notify the Board of the scope of and reason for implementation of the litigation hold.

To initiate a litigation hold, the Superintendent or designee shall immediately notify the Corporation custodian of records to suspend all records disposal procedures until the matter under the litigation hold is fully defined and information falling under the litigation hold identified. The notification to the Corporation custodian of records shall be documented.

ESI Team

The Superintendent may utilize an Electronically Stored Information Team ("ESI Team") to implement a litigation hold. The ESI Team shall be responsible for recommending to the Superintendent actions necessary to implement the litigation hold and for any other action(s) designated to it by the Superintendent. The ESI Team shall be comprised of the Corporation record custodian, the primary Corporation information technology administrator, a Corporation operations administrator, and any other individual the Superintendent designates. If the Corporations utilizing an attorney to handle the matter that is the cause of the litigation hold, the attorney also will be a member of the ESI Team or attend key ESI Team meetings as directed by the Superintendent. The ESI Team shall document any meetings held and recommended actions.

The Superintendent or designee or the ESI Team (if the Superintendent determines to utilize one) will a) define the matter under the litigation hold; b) identify information falling under the litigation hold; c) identify all individuals and third party entities who have custody of documents, ESI or electronic media containing ESI regarding the matter under the litigation hold; and d) identify all individuals responsible for records disposal under records retention and disposal procedures. If the ESI Team completed the above actions, it will report the above information to the Superintendent.

The Superintendent or designee will notify all identified individuals, third party entities and the Corporation custodian of records of the litigation hold and their responsibility to preserve all information regarding the litigation hold matter in their custody or control in a readily accessible form. After distribution of the litigation hold notifications, the ESI Team (if one is used) or the Superintendent or designee shall be responsible for regularly verifying that all documents, ESI and electronic media containing ESI regarding the litigation hold matter are properly preserved.

The ESI Team (if one is used) or the Superintendent or designee will review the litigation hold as necessary, and at least on a quarterly basis, the Superintendent or designee will reissue the litigation hold notice to the affected individuals and third party entities to remind them of their ongoing duty to properly preserve all information covered by the litigation hold. The Superintendent or designee, in conjunction with the ESI Team (if one is used), will document all steps taken to implement the litigation hold.

A litigation hold shall remain in place until removed by the Board. A litigation hold may be removed when the litigation or administrative agency matter has been resolved or can no longer be initiated. The Superintendent or designee shall notify the Corporation custodian of records and all individuals and third party entities notified of a litigation hold when the litigation hold for a matter is removed.

This administrative guideline, along with Policy 8315, shall be posted and distributed in a manner that places all Board members and employees on notice of their responsibilities under Policy 8315 - Information Management and this administrative guideline.

F.R.C.P. 34
F.R.C.P. 37(e)
Ind. R. Tr. P. 34