Thu 21 Dec 2023 23 16 37 0000 Re File Transfer 18C8Eaab 2¶

Sarah:

With regard to your file and medical records, they were not simply lying out on the front desk, but rather they were located in redwells (and the medical records further inside of a manila envelope) that was held at reception with a note that they were for you to pick up, inside of our secure office that requires key card access and/or someone from our office to let people inside, for you pick up as I indicated yesterday, per your request.

Regarding the other names you may see within your file, it is likely that that is the result of using the backside of printouts to recycle paper for working copies of documents. Basically, recycled scratch paper. You can simply discard those materials.

With regard to discovery, I have attached a May 17, 2022 email chain that you are on.  Lower in the email chain you can see where the documents were produced to Lisa Rose on May 13, 2022 via Dropbox. As indicated in the email, they were not Bates stamped at the time of production. The doc production was accessible to you as of that date and for approximately a year thereafter. You made some comments later indicating that you had accessed the link and reviewed its contents. It is my recollection that we were anticipating both a protective order for the medical records, and waiting to make some decisions about the nature of damages you wished to pursue, which would dictate which medical records, if any, were relevant and discoverable. Also, at the same time this production was made, the issue of mediation was raised and scheduling was underway. Processing a large production through an e-discovery platform is costly and thereafter incurs monthly hosting costs through the conclusion of the matter, which are passed on to the you as expenses. We would have likely held off on incurring those expenses until we saw how mediation went.

Efforts to schedule mediation continued through September of 2022 until you terminated WCZ on September 27, 2022.  We offered to make your complete file available to you and your lawyer via a letter and email on September 27, 2022, but no request to retrieve the file was made by either you or your new lawyer until October 24, 2022 and it was sent to you electronically the same day on October 24, 2022, and your new attorney, Jeff Banks was also copied on that transfer. We had no further communications about your file until August 28, 2023, when you emailed me to say that the link I sent to you 10 months earlier to access your file within my Dropbox was no longer accessible to you. I responded to you on August 29, 2023 and noted that “The files were available and hosted by us for over 8 months before they were removed from our server. I have gone into archives and restored the deleted file and provided another link. Please download the file so that we are not continuing to host it indefinitely.” Apparently in the preceding 10 months no one had downloaded the file from my Dropbox. I was able to locate and restore from deleted files what appears to be the same file I sent to you in 2022 and provided you a link to what I was able to recover.

As you recall, the file that we were all working from was within a Dropbox folder that was opened and maintained by Sally Monico. I checked today, and you still have access to that file. To generate a production, I would have copied the responsive items from that folder into a separate Dropbox folder that I maintained, generated a share link, and provided that to opposing counsel. I believe all material was produced less and except the folder marked withheld documents as you indicated on Monday. But that link is no longer functioning because I no longer have that folder, so I am not able to confirm that with certainty or provide a backup copy of the contents of what was sent to opposing counsel on May 13, 2022, that you also had access to via Dropbox. I am certain that your medical records were not produced as indicated in my email to Lisa Rose when the materials were sent. As am I sure you recall, the totality of the documents produced in this case was quite large. As I am sure you are also aware, Dropbox accounts have data limits and associated costs. That data was maintained in my Dropbox account for over 8 months beyond our termination date and was removed to make space available for other matters. Prior to its removal, everything you are asking for was available to you to download at any time during our representation of you and for at least 8 months after our termination.

I do not know what you mean when you say that WCZ has caused a really big problem for your lawyer. We are of course willing to help in any way we can, but unfortunately, we have not been able to recover in December 2023 this particular set of data that was created in May 2022 and deleted over 8 months after you terminated our firm in September of 2022.

Eric B. Coleman, Esq.
Partner
Winter Capriola Zenner, LLC
3490 Piedmont Rd. NE, Ste. 800
Atlanta, Georgia 30305
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