Answer:
This is more a state issue so I would refer you to the state forum that is appropriate as to any particular cases requiring an ORIGINAL document. But even before E-SIGN was at the point of acceptance it is today I recall our bank attorney saying any attorney worth his salt can get an electronic copy introduced in evidence.
Today some additional concerns are to ensure you have are admissibility. Your attorney should be aware of the Federal Rules of Evidence. If you have failures in your system that prevents the admission of your electronically retained documents as evidence, you will have no case to pursue.
If you have a dispute involving an e-signed or e-document document and you go to court, a judgment will be rendered based on the evidence you have. Your processes and e-documents will be judged on the strength and weakness of what you have on file and how you handle processing these. Your electronic evidence that is admissible will determine your exposure to risk, both legal and compliance.
Art. IX Authentication and Identification.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/fre/rules.htm
I would also review American Express v. In Re Vee Vinhnee, 336 B.R. (9th Cir. BAP 2005) as it directly addressed the admission of e-docs in a bankruptcy court. (Hint - it didn't turn out well for AmEx.)
Since you'll store records in e-form, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the process of obtaining records maintained by persons involved in federal litigation was clarified in Dec. 2006 to better address issues involving "electronically stored information." Close attention should be paid to amendments to Rules 26 and 34. These amendments require companies or other entities to produce electronically stored information as part of the discovery process. So you also need to be able to find these.
print
share