Court orders mirror image of defendants' personal computers.

• Position: E-DISCOVERY - Brief article

In an interesting legal twist, a Nevada judge recently ordered a mirror image of a defendant--s personal computer system be made for preservation purposes.

The circumstances were fairly straightforward: the United Factory Furniture Corp. (UFFC) fired an employee upon discovering that she and her husband, a former UFFC employee, were wrongfully accessing the company's computer systems and manipulating data, among other things. The employee filed suit against UFFC. While that litigation was pending, UFFC determined the defendants continued to access the network through a back door the husband had set up when he was previously employed by UFFC to manage and maintain the company's computer system.

The company's concern was compounded when the defendants referenced and produced e-mails that had not been sent to or from either of them. Closer investigation confirmed the system had been breached. So, UFFC filed to require the defendants to create a mirror image of their personal computers to protect the data from being overwritten or otherwise lost. UFFC even offered to foot the bill.

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