Extract from BIA’s article “Litigation Hold Release Notice Template”
Make the last step a breeze with our Litigation Hold Release Notice Template.
What is a Litigation Hold Release Notice?
A Litigation Hold Release Notice (or Legal Hold Release Notice) is a document sent to individuals on litigation hold when their responsibility to maintain evidence in the form of documents, ESI, and other data is no longer required to support the issuing organization’s legal preservation obligations.
Why do I need a Litigation Hold Release Notice?
Holding data for longer than needed can lead to unnecessary costs and avoidable risks down the road. If your employees are holding data beyond your document retention obligations and policies, that hoarding of old (and usually useless) data will only increase your storage, backup, security and other costs. It also can lead to potential liabilities arising from data that the organization had no obligation to maintain.
For example, say a custodian has documents going back 10 years because they were on a legal hold which actually ended years before but was never formally released. If a new legal matter arises that implicates that data, the extra years-worth of data that would otherwise have been destroyed pursuant to the organization’s data retention policies will only end up complicating and increasing costs. You can’t just ignore that data because it “should have” been destroyed; if it’s still there, the obligation attaches regardless, and you’ll have to deal with it. This results in wasted time and costs that could have been avoided entirely.
