You’re in a huge bind. Your client is a defendant is a large, complex, multi-party case and has been asked to produce relevant business records. You’ve been before the court and argued that a search for such records would be unduly burdensome and expensive for your client. The court was somewhat less than impressed with your. The client has records but doesn’t have an index system so they have no idea how many boxes they have, much less what is actually contained within each box. The clock is running and you don’t have enough extra staff to go rummaging through each box yet you have to be in a position to say that a diligent search was conducted. The presiding judge is ready to boil you in oil and the bailiff is gleefully gathering the tinder to start the fire. Perhaps your mother was right: you should have become a doctor. You need an answer and you need it quickly.

The answer to your problem is a telephone call or an email away and that answer is Enviro-Tox Loss Services. Performing document searches is one of our mainstays. If space is available, the project can be done at the client’s facility or at the facility where the records are kept. If space is not available, the records can be brought to our facility for review. Before any search begins, Enviro-Tox coordinates closely with counsel to determine the type of records or the key words within documents that need to be located. Enviro-Tox maintains close contact with counsel during to search to report the progress that is being made as well as to make any adjustments to the search that counsel might deem necessary. Enviro-Tox personnel find documents which may respond to production requests but the final determination is left to defense counsel. While Enviro-Tox conducts its search, it can also compile an index database, ranging from a very simple to a very complex version, for future use. If the client becomes involved in future litigation, the index can be used to either determine the boxes that don’t contain information related to the new litigation (the simple index) or even the boxes that might contain information which is related to the new litigation (the more complex index), thereby decreasing the cost of further searches. Enviro-Tox can assist with your document project, whether it involves a large amount of material or just a few boxes.

Example:

Enviro-Tox Loss Services was contacted by counsel representing a client involved as a defendant in toxic tort litigation. Counsel needed to review over four thousand boxes of documents stored in two different locations. Neither storage facility had sufficient space to allow for a review of the boxes at their facility. With the client’s permission, the boxes were shipped to our offices for the review. The cost of shipping and warehousing the boxes was far less than the cost would have been to review the boxes at the warehouse facilities, had space been available. The Enviro-Tox reviews uncovered thousands of documents which were of interest to defense counsel. The final determination on production rested with defense counsel. In addition, Enviro-Tox located documents which provided a much clearer historical picture of the client for defense counsel, which greatly assisted defense counsel with the defense of his client. After the initial litigation was resolved in the client’s favor, the client was served with litigation involving a different product line. Thanks to the index the client allowed Enviro-Tox to create, we were able to focus on only six hundred (rather than over four thousand) boxes for the new litigation, a tremendous savings to the client.