Case Blurb: Lorraine; ESI may be authenticated by witness with personal knowledge of the data

Courts considering the admissibility of electronic evidence frequently have acknowledged that it may be authenticated by a witness with personal knowledge. Lorraine v. Markel Amer. Ins. Co., 241 F.R.D. 534 (D. Md. 2007).

• (referencing United States v. Kassimu, 2006 WL 1880335 (5th Cir. May 12, 2006) (ruling that copies of a post office’s computer records could be authenticated by a custodian or other qualified witness with personal knowledge of the procedure that generated the records));
• (referencing St. Luke’s, 2006 WL 1320242 at *3-4 (“To authenticate printouts from a website, the party proffering the evidence must produce ‘some statement or affidavit from someone with knowledge [of the website] … for example [a] web master or someone else with personal knowledge would be sufficient.’ ” (citation omitted)))
• (referencing Safavian, 435 F.Supp.2d at 40 n. 2 (D.D.C.2006) (noting that e-mail may be authenticated by a witness with knowledge that the exhibit is what it is claimed to be));
• (referencing Wady, 216 F. Supp 2d 1060 (sustaining objection to affidavit of plaintiff’s witness attempting to authenticate documents taken from the defendant’s website because the affiant lacked personal knowledge of who maintained the website or authored the documents)).

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