Deleting Emails In A Lawsuit

By Amy E. Feldman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A Philadelphia advertising agency now faces sanctions for doing something you probably do every day - deleting emails.

When several employees of a Philadelphia ad agency left and started their own competing business, the agency sued the ex-ad-execs, claiming that before they left, they downloaded client information and forwarded it to their private email accounts and asked that the emails be turned over.

Now if you've been sued and you're told that you have to give the other side evidence of what you did, your first thought probably involves one finger - the one you'd use to press the delete button. Ok, two fingers. But once you've been sued, you cannot delete evidence that's relevant to the case, even if it's harmful to you.

Here's the thing, it's easy to track what you did electronically and, by deleting, you not only make yourself look guilty, you also face additional penalties you wouldn't have had you just turned over what you're obligated to which is exactly what happened when, instead of turning over the emails the ad execs deleted the evidence.

They now have a new slogan: I learned an expensive lesson the hard way.