When a civil lawsuit against the University is filed or reasonably anticipated to be filed, the University is required by law to preserve all information, including hard copy and electronically stored information ("ESI"), relevant to the claims or defenses in the lawsuit (or anticipated lawsuit).
ESI is any electronic information that could serve as evidence in civil litigation. Local hard drives, e-mail, voice mail, shared storage, backup systems, mobile devices (e.g. cell phones, PDAs, etc.), removable media (e.g. CDs, DVDs, flash drives, etc.) and personally owned computers are all potential sources of ESI.
The procedures for handling e-discovery compliance and litigation holds at UC Merced are managed by the Campus Counsel, Information Technology, and Risk Services.
See also:
Measures Regarding Litigation Holds and Preservation of Electronically Stored Information (ESI)