Pataky Litigation Hold

City of Phoenix OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY

To:

Recipient List

Date:

March 31, 2009

From:

Gary Verburg, City Attorney

Subject:

Litigation Hold for Preservation of Documents Regarding: “Pataky 2” - Domestic dispute DR 2008-70443140

A claim was filed on March 18, 2009, against the City of Phoenix arising out of the service of an allegedly retaliatory search warrant served on Jeff Pataky on March 9, 2009. Mr. Pataky alleges that the search warrant actually was in response to critical comments he made about the Phoenix Police Department on badphoenixcops.com; that the retaliatory search warrant was falsely obtained and constituted a violation of his constitutional rights; and, that items were removed which were not covered by the search warrant. These complaints, for ease of reference, are referred to as “Pataky 2.” The City of Phoenix, its officers, agents, and employees, are under a legal obligation to preserve all information potentially relevant to the issues raised in Pataky 2. By this memorandum, I direct all recipients listed in Exhibit “A” to immediately preserve and protect such information. This information may currently be stored on computer systems as electronic files, e-mails, or otherwise stored as hard copies or in some other tangible form. The obligations under this litigation hold are continuing and apply equally to information created after, as well as before, this memorandum was delivered. I have designated Stephen J. Craig as the attorney responsible for coordinating this litigation hold. Please contact him at (602) 262-6765 if you have any questions or if you believe that the list of Key Personnel needs to be expanded to include others. This litigation hold will be followed by a Custodian Questionnaire that will ask you to more specifically identify the type, location, and amount of potentially relevant information in your possession, custody, or control. Until then, and in addition to the above: • • • •

Key Personnel are instructed to identify places where potentially relevant electronic information may be stored and to make appropriate arrangements for its preservation. Key Personnel are instructed to identify places where potentially paper documents and files, and other tangible material may be stored and to make appropriate arrangements for its preservation. Key Personnel must preserve the departmental reports and case files, the PSB file, and any MCAO files in the City’s possession, custody, or control. Key Personnel may also have the ability to save ESI to workstations and other storage media. Accordingly, all personnel are instructed to defer running compression, disk defragmentation or other computer optimization or automated maintenance programs, and to reasonably safeguard and preserve portable or removable electronic storage media containing potentially relevant ESI.

Pataky 2 Document Preservation Memo March 31, 2009 Page 2

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The Police Department, Enterprise Application Administrators and LAN Administrators are directed to suspend practices regarding the retention and/or destruction of ESI that might relate to Pataky 2. Also, please defer any significant hardware/software upgrade, repair, or replacement that that might impact the identification and preservation of ESI relating to Pataky 2. Any significant upgrade, replacement, or disposal of hardware or software should be discussed with the Law Department beforehand. The Law Department LAN Administrators are directed to suspend practices regarding the retention and/or destruction of ESI that might relate to Pataky 2. Also, please defer any significant hardware/software upgrade, repair, or replacement that that might impact the identification and preservation of ESI relating to the Pataky 2. Any significant upgrade, replacement, or disposal of hardware or software should be discussed with the Law Department beforehand. E-mail – the Enterprise Application Administrators are directed immediately to disable the scheduled purge function and to preserve all e-mails for each of the Key Personnel identified below.

If you are aware of other electronic data or documents that may be relevant to Pataky 2, consult with your department’s Information Technology specialists and/or the Law Department as needed to ensure that you are taking appropriate action to preserve that information as well. You will periodically receive friendly reminders to preserve this information. As this matter is in litigation, all communications with and through the Law Department, its attorneys and outside counsel, are privileged and confidential – including this e-mail and memo – and such communications are not to be discussed or shared. I remind you that your e-mails will be the subject of a litigation hold, and may be subject to disclosure to the other parties and the public. I recommend that you exercise caution and discretion when communicating in this fashion. Thank you for your assistance. If you have any questions regarding the memorandum, please contact Stephen J. Craig (602-262-6765) of this office. cc:

Alton Washington, City Manager’s Office Mario Paniaqua, City Clerk Patti Moore, Adm., PPD Lt. Eric Edwards, PPD Janet Smith, Personnel Director

Pataky 2 Document Preservation Memo March 31, 2009 Page 3

Exhibit “A” Comprehensive Distribution List Last Name

First Name

Rank/Title Key Personnel

Assignment

Serial #

Harris

Jack Lisa Thomas (Tom) Murray (Andy) James (Jim) Joseph (Joe) Blake Tracy Scott Kevin Jeffeory (Jeff) Joseph (Joe) George Kim Charles (Chuck) Benny Frank Mark Lowell Patrick (Pat) John R. Theron Steven Michael (Mike) Heather Karen John Eric James (Jim) Stanton (Stan) Joseph (Joe) Linda Patricia (Pat) Christopher Matthew Kenneth (Ken)

Public Safety Mgr.

Chief's Office

9000

Admin. Secretary

Chief's Office

A3367

Exec. Asst. Chief

Chief's Office

3248

Asst. Chief

Chief's Office

2771

Asst. Chief

Chief's Office

3056

Asst. Chief

Chief's Office

4433

Asst. Chief

Chief's Office

4118

Asst. Chief

Chief's Office

4515

Reserve Asst. Chief

Reserve Division

R0585

Asst. Chief

Chief's Office

3870

Commander

FIB

3612

Commander

VCB

3930

Commander

PSB

2830

Commander

PSB

4212

Commander

Public Affairs Bureau

5448

Commander

Cactus Park Precinct

5092

Commander

Major Offender Bureau

4443

Lieutenant

Retired

4159

Lieutenant

FIB

5436

Sergeant

VCB

5000

Sergeant

FIB

4438

Detective

FIB

6457

Detective

FIB

6844

Sergeant

VCB

4696

Detective

VCB

6237

Sergeant

VCB

4557

Detective

ACTIC

3980

Detective

ACTIC

5800

Asst. Chief

Chief's Office/PSB

3056

Lieutenant

PSB

3486

Lieutenant

PSB

4883

Lieutenant

Retired #3982

R1002

Admin. Asst. I

PSB

A1874

Sergeant

PSB

6219

Sergeant

PSB

6347

Sergeant

PSB

4931

Coombe Lannon Anderson Pina Yahner McClelland Montgomery Finical Robinson Hynes Klima Richards Humphrey Miiller Pina Milstead Zingg Spalla Kotecki Bell Quaas Boeck Polombo Polombo Vance Guzman Oldenburg Pina Hoover Tomory Johnson Collay Tucker Siekmann Mentzer

Pataky 2 Document Preservation Memo March 31, 2009 Page 4

Porter Edwards Casey

Steve Eric Denton

Sergeant

Drug Enforcement

4974

Lieutenant

Legal Unit

4514

Legal Advisor

City Law Dept.

Technical Staff Rhyons Hamilton Piceno Naiberg Martin-Parker

Loretta (Lori) Doreen Gail Dennis Elizabeth

Administrator

Computer Services

A2485

Project Manager

Computer Services

A5220

Info Tech Proj Mng Lead Info Tech Dep. City Clerk

Law Dept Ofc Info Sys Ofc Info Sys