In Alexander v. F.B.I, 2008 WL 903115 (D.D.C. April 3, 2008), district court held that neither the White House nor its counsel acted in bad faith or engaged in any obstruction of justice related to missing and deleted emails.  The court's ruling followed an evidentiary hearing to determine the veracity of statements regarding the storage and archival of emails in the White House's automated records management system.  It turned out that some emails were not archived due to a "coding error" by a private contractor.  The error was subsequently corrected, but the White House Counsel's office did not understand the extent of the problem.  The court held that the mistaken testimony was due to lack of familiarity with computer terminology and a failure to understand the White House's computer specialist.  The court found no evidence of any deliberate effort to conceal the truth from the plaintiffs or the court.

 




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