PERKS AND PERILS OF A PAPERLESS OFFICE

After much hype and anticipation, the age of the paperless office is finally here. As technology has improved, an increasing number of businesses are choosing to store their original paper documents electronically by scanning and destroying the originals. Given this growing trend among businesses to move to purely electronic storage of day-to-day business documents and other records, one important question remains: Do business documents have to be stored in hard copy form after scanning?

The answer to this question rests in two key inquires. The first is whether the electronic version of the paper record satisfies retention requirements imposed by federal and state statutes and regulations, so that the document can be used if the organization is audited by a federal or state agency. The second is whether the electronic copy can be admitted into evidence during litigation. Of course, the latter inquiry is of particular significance to counsel who may subsequently face questions of the admissibility and authentication of the scanned documents.

Traditionally, under the common law best evidence rule, parties were required to produce the original writing or document into evidence. Thus, copies of documents were not routinely admissible in court proceedings unless the original was shown to be unavailable through no fault of the proponent. This archaic view, however, dated to the time when copies were made by hand and were therefore subject to inaccuracy.

As technology has improved over time, an increasing number of businesses are moving to electronic storage of documents without retaining the originals. As a result, courts and legislatures are now creating exceptions to the common law rule, which allow for the routine admission of electronic copies of original documents.