Emails can be powerful evidence in legal proceedings, whether civil lawsuits or criminal prosecutions. However, for emails to be admissible in court, certain conditions must be met. The authenticity and integrity of emails must be verifiable, and emails must comply with rules against hearsay and other evidentiary standards. When properly collected, preserved, and authenticated, emails provide a written record of communications that can influence the outcome of cases. This article examines the standards governing the use of emails as evidence and provides guidance on best practices for managing email to support admissibility.
Email Admissibility
Emails can be admitted as evidence in court, but they must meet certain requirements. According to FindLaw, the main obstacles to email admissibility are authentication and hearsay rules Legal How-To: Using Email as Evidence.
To authenticate an email, the party seeking to admit it must provide evidence showing the email is genuine and from the source claimed. This often requires testimony from a witness with knowledge or evidence of the email’s contents, metadata, or circumstances of sending/receiving. Courts have admitted emails identified by their authors or recipients. Email metadata and accounts used can also authenticate.Overall, the standard for authentication is not high and emails can be authenticated in various ways.
Hearsay rules can also exclude email evidence if offered to prove the truth of a statement made in the email. However, exemptions allow admission of opposing party statements or business records. Work emails may qualify under business record exceptions. Personal emails face more hearsay challenges unless the author testifies.
While admissible, courts may scrutinize emails more critically than other documents. Establishing authenticity and context is key for emails to be persuasive as evidence.
Authentication
Emails must be properly authenticated before being admitted as evidence in court. This involves establishing that the email is genuine and actually sent by the purported sender. There are several ways to authenticate an email:
The author can testify to writing and sending the email. This involves having them verify the email address and content.1
Another method is getting the recipient to testify they received the email from the address of the purported sender. This establishes the email’s authenticity.2
Parties can also stipulate to an email’s authenticity, avoiding the need to authenticate.3
Overall, the key is having a witness with personal knowledge confirm the identity of the sender and the accuracy of the content. This provides the foundation for the email’s admission as evidence.
Hearsay
Emails are considered hearsay because they contain out-of-court statements offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted. However, there are exceptions that allow hearsay evidence to be admissible in court. According to Email Evidence: Overcoming The So-Called “Self-Serving Hearsay Objection”, statements offered for purposes other than their truth, such as to show the declarant’s state of mind, are not excluded as hearsay.
Additionally, emails may fall under exceptions that allow hearsay, such as the business records exception or statements by a party opponent. With proper authentication and foundation, emails can be admitted as evidence in court despite being hearsay. The opposing party can still object on hearsay grounds, so attorneys must be prepared to argue an applicable exception.
Best Practices
When emailing about legal or potentially contentious matters, it’s important to keep in mind that your emails may be submitted as evidence in court someday. Here are some best practices for writing emails suitable for court:
Use formal language and avoid sarcasm, exaggeration or strong emotional language. Stick to facts and be precise in your wording. Avoid speculation or personal attacks. Draft the email as if a judge may review it.
Be thoughtful about your tone. Even if you are upset or frustrated, maintain a calm and professional demeanor. Do not write anything you would not want read aloud in court.
Avoid profanity, slang, emojis, abbreviations or unclear references. Spell out acronyms. Proofread carefully for typos, grammar and clarity. An email full of errors may undermine your credibility.
Keep emails focused and concise. Only discuss one topic per email when possible. Avoid long email threads that cover multiple different issues and conversations.
Be judicious in your use of CC and BCC. Only copy people who truly need to be involved. Consider blind copying sensitive emails to maintain discretion.
Where appropriate, follow up important conversations or agreements via email to document discussions from phone calls or meetings.
Save and archive email correspondence that may be relevant to future legal matters. Print or save as PDF important emails to preserve the exact content and format.
When in doubt, pause before hitting send. Take time to review carefully and consider if the email’s content and tone are prudent and appropriate.
Email Discovery
Email discovery is the process of identifying, collecting, reviewing, and producing relevant email communications related to a legal matter (Proofpoint). It is a critical component of the e-discovery process in civil litigation and other legal disputes.
The email discovery process typically involves the following steps:
- Identifying custodians: The key players (individuals or organizations) who may have sent or received relevant emails.
- Preserving email data: Preventing the deletion or destruction of emails that may need to be produced.
- Collecting email data: Gathering emails from mail servers, archives, local storage, mobile devices, etc.
- Processing email data: Converting emails into a reviewable format and removing duplicates.
- Reviewing email data: Examining emails for responsiveness, privilege, and confidential information.
- Producing email data: Delivering responsive, non-privileged emails to the requesting party.
Proper preservation and collection of email data is crucial, as the inadvertent or intentional deletion of relevant emails can lead to sanctions. Throughout the email discovery process, the proportionality principle requires weighing the potential value of locating emails against the burden and costs (Grimlaw).
Email Metadata
Email metadata plays a key role in email discovery during court cases and legal investigations. Metadata contains details that can reveal insights and information beyond the actual email content, providing crucial context. This can include information like timestamps, device identification, locations, and more (Email Metadata Analysis: Reveal Insights For Useful …, 2023). When emails are submitted as evidence in court, metadata can confirm details about the sender, recipient, time sent, and other contextual factors relevant to the case.
Analyzing metadata provides investigators a valuable window into the circumstances surrounding an email exchange. The metadata can reveal if emails were altered or falsified in any way. For example, mismatches between the sent time in the metadata and timestamps on the device could signal manipulation. Examining metadata helps establish the authenticity and chain of custody for email evidence (The importance of contextual metadata in email eDiscovery, 2015). Lawyers rely on metadata forensics to validate emails submitted to the court and uncover the full context behind them.
Email Deletions
There are strict rules around deleting emails that may be relevant to an ongoing or upcoming legal case. Once a legal complaint has been filed or if litigation is reasonably anticipated, there is a legal duty to preserve all data relevant to the matter. This includes emails. According to FindLaw, if a court determines that relevant emails were intentionally deleted, the court may assume the deleted information was unfavorable to the party that deleted it.
In general, the law does not look kindly upon the deletion of evidence. According to an article on FindLaw’s website, “Delete At Your Peril: Preserving Electronic Evidence During the Litigation Process,” deleting relevant electronic evidence can prejudice the other party in a legal dispute. [1] The court has broad discretion to penalize a party for spoliation of evidence, including the presumption that the deleted evidence was damaging to that party’s case.
It is important for individuals and companies to have and follow document retention policies specifying how long various records must be kept. However, these policies must ensure relevant records are preserved when litigation is pending or imminent. Otherwise, the willful destruction of evidence can result in sanctions by the court.
Notable Examples
Email evidence has been used in several high-profile court cases. In 2003, emails were introduced as evidence in the Martha Stewart insider trading trial. Prosecutors used emails between Stewart and her broker to demonstrate her knowledge of non-public information related to a biotech stock (United States v. Martha Stewart). The emails were considered a “smoking gun” that helped lead to Stewart’s conviction.
More recently in 2021, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Van Buren v. United States, which dealt with a police officer accused of abusing his access to a law enforcement database for personal reasons. Prosecutors introduced emails and chat logs showing the officer’s communications about misusing his access for financial gain, which were key to his conviction (Van Buren v. United States).
Emails can provide crucial evidence in lawsuits and criminal cases. Proper collection, preservation, and authentication of emails is key to ensuring they hold up in court proceedings.
Conclusion
In today’s digital world, email is a ubiquitous form of communication, both in our personal and professional lives. With so much sensitive information transmitted via email, questions around the admissibility and discoverability of email correspondence frequently arise in legal proceedings.
As we have discussed, while email carries less formality than paper documents, emails can absolutely be used as evidence in court cases. However, certain conditions must be met to authenticate emails and overcome hearsay objections. Following best practices like avoiding deletions and informal language can help position your emails to hold up under legal scrutiny.
While courts are still adapting to the nuances of digital communication, the basic evidentiary rules regarding relevance, authenticity and hearsay apply to email. With proper care and handling, email can serve as powerful evidence. But organizations and individuals should be thoughtful about what they communicate over email and retain as records. Ultimately, when used responsibly, email provides a lasting written account that can profoundly impact the outcome of legal disputes.
