Brett, this actually happened to us a few weeks ago, where a law firm we use was storing some of our boxes at a commercial facility, and they were accidently destroyed by that facility. The law firm reached out to us first, and we truly appreciated that so I think that is a good move on your part to be proactive. While their initial contact to us was via email to one of our senior attorneys, we've asked them to send us copies of all documentation between them and the vendor (prior and future, and in native format), regarding the accidental destruction. The down side--the indexes [prepared by the law firm] for these boxes were very generic. The up side is that although we don't have details on the indexes, we do know that they were non-vital litigation production copies for settled lawsuits that had already met their retention, and most likely would've been destroyed anyway. This law firm had other client's records that were also accidently destroy by this vendor, where their loss may be more serious.
Once we receive this documentation, we'll add it to our own internal communications on this incident and note it in our system. Given the kinds of records they were, however, I am not anticipating a problem at this time. If that changes, then we will have all that we can hope to get given this situation, and that is the documentation. As you may know--stuff happens, but I appreciate the law firm being proactive in letting us know about it right up front. You are spot-on in that we would not be "happy campers" if they had waited until we asked for these records or otherwise had to produce them, to tell us about their accidental destruction after the fact. We're now asking them (and other law firms we work with) to double-check the status of other boxes of records they're keeping for us, JIC (just in case).
By the way, the law firm in question is NOT yours! ;0)
Thanks.
Earl
Pipeline Records and Information Management Excellence... Get PRIMEd!
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Earl Johnson, Jr., CRM
Corporate Records Manager
Colonial Pipeline Company
1185 Sanctuary Parkway, Ste. 100
Alpharetta, GA 30009
Internet: www.colpipe.com | Email: [log in to unmask]
Office: 678-762-2586 | Mobile: 404-402-4420 | Fax: 678-762-2315
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