Legal Spoliation Letter

LEGAL SPOLIATION LETTER

Date:   From: , Counsel with , located at .

To: , of , located at .

Re: Matter: ; Case No.:

RECITALS

WHEREAS, the party identified above as sender represents that litigation, regulatory investigation, or a reasonably anticipated claim involving the matter identified above is pending or likely to be commenced; and

WHEREAS, preservation of documents, electronically stored information (ESI), and tangible evidence relating to the identified matter is necessary to avoid spoliation and to enable the parties and any tribunal to resolve issues on the merits; and

WHEREAS, the recipient is in possession, custody, or control of documents, ESI, and physical items potentially relevant to the matter.

NOW, THEREFORE, for good and valuable consideration and to avoid the risk of spoliation, the sender hereby directs and demands that the recipient take the measures set forth below.

1. PRESERVATION OBLIGATION

The recipient must preserve all documents and ESI that are potentially relevant to the matter, including but not limited to communications, transactional records, logs, databases, system images, backups, mobile device data, and physical items. Preservation applies to material created, received, or stored from through , and to any drafts or copies thereof, unless a narrower time period is specified in writing below.

2. SCOPE OF PRESERVATION

Preservation includes all locations and media under the recipient's control where relevant material may exist, whether on-site, off-site, in the cloud, on third-party systems, or on personally owned devices used for business. The recipient must suspend any routine deletion, rotation, or destruction policies that would affect potentially relevant material.

3. IDENTIFICATION OF CUSTODIANS AND SOURCES

4. LEGAL HOLD NOTICE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The recipient shall distribute a written Legal Hold Notice to all custodians identified above and to any other individuals or third parties likely to have relevant information. The notice must instruct recipients to preserve all non-privileged documents and ESI and to suspend any automatic deletion, including email retention and backup rotation.

Recipient must provide a written acknowledgment of receipt and the actions taken to preserve relevant materials within days of receipt of this letter.

5. PRESERVATION OF ELECTRONICALLY STORED INFORMATION (ESI)

ESI types that must be preserved include, without limitation, the categories checked below and any backups, archives, snapshots, system logs, and metadata associated with such ESI:

Email (all accounts and archived mailboxes)
Server files and databases
Mobile devices and tablets
Cloud storage and SaaS data (including snapshots and logs)
Social media and messaging platforms
Backup media, tapes, and system images
Physical documents, lab notebooks, and tangible evidence

6. FORENSIC IMAGING AND CHAIN OF CUSTODY

If the recipient intends to conduct forensic imaging, such work must be performed by qualified personnel in a manner that preserves metadata and chain of custody. Any imaging or collection protocol should be documented in writing and made available to the sender upon request. If the sender intends to perform independent imaging, the recipient agrees to preserve the relevant devices and locations in a forensically sound state.

For coordination regarding imaging and collection, contact: Name: ; Phone: .

7. SUSPENSION OF ROUTINE AND AUTOMATED DELETION

The recipient must immediately suspend any routine deletion, overwriting, de-duplication, or automatic purge processes that would affect preserved materials, including but not limited to email auto-delete rules, log rotation, retention expiration, and backup re-use.

8. SANCTIONS AND REMEDIES FOR SPOLIATION

Failure to preserve relevant materials may constitute spoliation and may result in sanctions, including but not limited to monetary fines, evidentiary or terminating sanctions, adverse inference instructions, preclusion of evidence, or other relief available to the requesting party under applicable law. The sender expressly reserves all rights to seek such remedies.

9. MEET AND CONFER

The recipient and sender shall confer promptly to discuss reasonable steps taken, the scope of preservation, and any technical constraints. The parties shall meet and confer in good faith within days of the recipient's acknowledgment to identify specific custodians, ESI sources, and any agreed-upon accommodations.

10. NOTICES

Notices required by this letter shall be in writing and delivered to the representatives below. Notices to sender: Name: ; Firm: ; Address: ; Phone: .

Notices to recipient: Name: ; Title: ; Address: ; Phone: .

11. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

Governing Law: This letter and any disputes relating to preservation obligations shall be governed by the substantive and procedural laws of the jurisdiction in which the underlying proceeding is venued, without regard to conflicts of law principles.

Entire Agreement: This letter memorializes the recipient's preservation obligations with respect to the matter identified above. It constitutes the entire written notice regarding preservation and supersedes any prior oral or written preservation communications relating to the same matter.

Severability: If any provision of this letter is held to be invalid or unenforceable, the remainder of the letter remains in full force and effect.

Amendments and Waiver: Any amendment to this letter must be in writing signed by both sender and recipient. No waiver of any provision is effective unless in writing signed by the waiving party.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

By signing below, the recipient acknowledges receipt of this Legal Spoliation Letter, certifies that the recipient will take the actions described herein to preserve relevant materials, and understands that failure to preserve may result in sanctions or other remedies.

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