Notice of Legal Hold - DOC

							                                               MEMORANDUM



TO:

FROM:            Keith D. Swarts, Records Officer
                 Director of Business Services
                 University of Nebraska Medical Center

DATE:

RE:              DOCUMENT PRESERVATION/NOTICE OF LEGAL HOLD – RELATING TO
                 (name)-UNMC-(date in format 031210)

      1. Purpose: The purpose of this memorandum is to inform you that in connection with a
         (1) pending or (2) anticipated legal proceeding (3) investigation (4) audit, (5) subpoena,
         (6) public records request (7) charge of discrimination (8) Workers Compensation claim
         (9) Unemployment claim (10) grievance (11) student academic committee proceeding
         (12) student disciplinary committee proceeding (13) tort claim (14) contract claim (15)
         miscellaneous claim (16) academic freedom complain (17) professional misconduct
         complaint (18) research misconduct complaint) legal proceeding, the University must
         take all reasonable steps to preserve Records1 described in Attachment A of this Notice.
         This Notice is being sent to you either because you have been identified as the
         custodian of potentially relevant Records or identified as a data steward responsible for
         setting up and/or maintaining a system thought to contain potentially relevant
         information. You must preserve such Records in accordance with the University’s
         Executive Memorandum No. 29 until released by a subsequent Document
         Preservation/Notice of Legal Hold Release.

         Further distribution of this Notice: Each recipient of this Notice is responsible for
         determining whether further distribution to persons who report up to them is
         necessary. If you believe further distribution is appropriate, please contact me at
         559-5840.

      2. Preservation obligations: This Notice applies to all forms of Records described in
         Attachment A. This Notice applies to Records currently in existence and to Records
         created or received after the date of the Notice. If the specified Records exist in hard
         copy form, you must keep them, without alteration, organized in the way you would
         normally keep them for business purposes (for example, if you usually file them in

1
 A University document or record is any paper, book, map, photograph, electronic file, original microfilm, cassette
or video tape or other documentary material regardless of physical form or characteristics, made, produced,
executed or received by any staff member or person in connection with the transaction of University business.

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        folders, continue to do so). If they are no longer needed for normal business purposes,
        they may be placed in inactive storage (properly identified and labeled as material that
        is subject to this Notice). Communications to and from counsel for the University should
        be kept in a separate folder. At individual work stations, this directive requires you to
        preserve and retain all potentially relevant electronic Records stored on your hard drive
        and contained in your Lotus Notes and/or Outlook Inbox and Folders. Electronic
        Records should be retained in a folder on your computer desktop and in a folder in your
        Lotus Notes and/or Outlook mailbox. The folders should be labeled (name)-UNMC-
        (date). Electronic Records that cannot be retained in this manner should be brought to
        my attention for further discussion regarding the appropriate manner for retention.
        Any e-mail “janitorial” functions, such as automatic deletion of e-mail after a certain
        number of days, must be disabled. Portable media containing potentially relevant
        Records must be preserved and retained. At the network and systems administration
        level, this directive requires to you preserve and retain all potentially relevant files
        currently stored on University servers and to refrain from doing any administrative work
        that has any potential to destroy potentially relevant files. Any “janitorial” functions
        must be disabled.

        Every person who creates or distributes a Record that is subject to a Notice shall
        manage that item such that an accurate and complete version is retained. 2 Every
        person who receives a Record that is subject to a Notice shall manage that item such
        that an accurate and complete version is retained if: (1) the recipient has specifically
        agreed to manage the Record on behalf of the creator, or (2) the recipient is not clearly
        identified and recorded as a recipient of the Records (e.g. on the distribution list), or (3)
        the Record was obtained from a person who is not a University faculty or staff member
        or not authorized to create Records on a University information system. The last
        version of a draft of a Hold Record that is created but not distributed is subject to this
        notice. Any superseded draft of a Record that has not been distributed, shared, or
        retained for future reference is not subject to this Notice. Any duplicate of a Record
        that has been annotated or altered is a distinct Record and subject to this notice.

    3. What does this Notice require of me? You are required to comply fully with this
       Notice. Any question you may have as to the relevance of a particular Record should be
       resolved in favor of preservation and retention. Do not copy and send potentially
       relevant Records to me. At the appropriate time, I will notify you regarding collection of
       your Records. It is never appropriate to knowingly alter, destroy, mutilate, conceal or
       falsify any Record subject to Hold with the intent to impede a legal proceeding or
       investigation. A concern that Records may be used in legal proceedings or investigation
       is never an acceptable reason for making them unavailable or disposing of them. Your

2
 Many voice mail systems are incapable of storing messages indefinitely; you should not lease a voice mail
message on a Hold topic. If you receive (from inside or outside the University) a voice mail message on a Hold
topic, you must transcribe the message, print and retain the message in your files. When transcribing voice mail
messages, you must include the date, name of the caller and the complete message.

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      failure to comply with a Notice may constitute a violation of applicable law, is a violation
      of University policy, and may result in criminal penalties, civil fines or disciplinary action
      up to and including termination.

4. Questions: If you have any questions, please contact me at 559-5840. Thank you for
   your help.


Cc:          Bill Lynch
             John Wiltse




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      Document Preservation/Notice of Legal Hold Relating to (name)-UNMC-(date)


                                     ATTACHMENT A

The following Records [and relevant materials] are hereby placed on Hold until further
notice:

(1) Any and all documents relating to the University’s contact with (name).

(2) Any and all communications relating to (name).




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