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"Demand to Preserve and Retain Documents and Information in Advance of Potential Litigation

April 26, 2022

Via Email to:

California Republican Party (“CAGOP”)
CAGOP Chairperson Jessica Patterson
Padgett Communications, Inc.
David Reed
 
 
I, Rachel Hamm, Secretary of State Candidate for California, am considering litigation against among others and without limitation (all sometimes collectively referred to as “Potential Defendants”): 

• the CAGOP, 
• Chairperson Jessica Patterson, 
• CAGOP Board Members, 
• Padgett Communications Inc.;
• Certain Proxy harvesting entities or individuals involved in obtaining more than 100 proxies for this past weekend’s Convention.


As a result, I am writing to request under governing laws, that the Potential Defendants (and those others referenced herein below) take immediate steps to preserve information that may be relevant to this dispute, very broadly defined, including both Documents and all electronically stored information ("ESI"). The e-discovery Guidelines of the Conference of Chief Justices broadly define ESI as:
 
Any information created, stored, or best utilized with computer technology of any type. It includes but is not limited to data; word processing documents; spreadsheets; presentation documents; graphics; animations; images; e-mail and instant messages (including attachments); audio, video, and audiovisual recordings; voicemail stored on databases; networks; computers and computer systems; servers; archives; back-up or disaster recovery systems; discs, CD’s, diskettes, drives, tapes, cartridges and other storage media; printers; the Internet; personal digital assistants; handheld wireless devices; cellular telephones; pagers; fax machines; and voicemail systems."

"The ESI in your computer systems is almost certain to be an important and irreplaceable source of discovery and evidence in this case. Accordingly, we urge you to take immediate steps to identify and preserve all potentially relevant ESI on these systems, including all portable ESI storage devices, and third party systems that may be within the organization's "possession, custody or control." Your preservation duties may include, without limitation, both organization, company, and employee owned computers, phones and other devices that contain relevant ESI. If you have questions concerning privacy issues or the scope of your required preservation duties, we suggest you consult your attorneys that can advise you in this area. 

The term “DOCUMENT” or “DOCUMENTS,” when used herein includes, without limitation, all original written, recorded or graphic matter of any nature whatsoever, identical copies and all non-identical copies thereof, contained in any medium upon which intelligence or information is recorded, in plaintiff’s possession, custody, or control, regardless of where located; including, without limitation, notes, jottings, papers, records, tangible things, communications, e-mails, letters, memoranda, ledgers, work sheets, expense vouchers or receipts, books, magazines, notebooks, work papers, affidavits, statements, summaries, contracts, agreements, diaries, calendars, appointment books, registers, charts, tables, purchase orders, acknowledgments, invoices, authorizations, budgets, analyses, reports, studies, evaluations, projections, transcripts, minutes of meetings of any kind, correspondence, telegrams, cables, telex messages, teletypes, drafts, movie film, slides, phonograph records, photographs, microfilm, data processing discs or tapes, and computer produced interpretations thereof, x-rays, printout sheets, punch cards, instructions, announcements, schedules, spread sheets, price lists, financial statements, balance sheets, income statements, mechanical or electric sound recordings and transcripts thereof, all records kept by electronic, photographic, mechanical or computer means, and notes or drafts relating to any of the foregoing, and all things similar to any of the foregoing, however denominated."
"  In all cases where originals and/or non-identical copies are not available, “document” also means identical copies of original documents and copies of non-identical copies.

Your required preservation efforts under the law should include without limitation:
 
• Immediate written notice, typically by email, to all CAGOP staff, Padgett Communications Inc, employees, assistants, volunteers, consultants, delegates, associate delegates, proxies, advisers, boards members, candidates, and agents who may have discoverable information about this dispute ("key players") with instructions concerning their duty to preserve.
• Immediate suspension or modification of your organization's normal electronic document retention and destruction policies and procedures for the key players, including automated email deletion programs, and recycling and reformatting of computers and, where appropriate, preservation of some backup tapes. To the extent there is any change in electronic communications or file systems, including email, steps must be taken to preserve the information stored on the prior format.
• Follow-up direct communications with key players likely to have knowledge or custody, possession or control of relevant ESI and paper records.
• Follow-up communications with all affected CAGOP staff, Padgett Communications Inc, employees, assistants, volunteers, consultants, delegates, associate delegates, proxies, advisers, boards members, candidates, and agents providing specific instructions on identification and collection of discoverable ESI and paper records, including notice to your Information Technology Department. (Note we can refer you to computer forensic experts who can assist your IT Department where needed in the identification and collection process.)  
 
Because we are contemplating potential litigation pursuant to California law, we demand all of the following is preserved:"

"• Documents containing, referring or relating to information regarding the list of handheld voting devices involved, device ID, labeled ID on top, list of voters, list of anonymous voters, list of voters that were outside of the convention hall room where onsite voting was taking place, list of pins/passwords assigned to each voter, list of proxies, software configurations, base station configurations, all files that resulted in the displays/screens shown to the attendees on the left and right of the stage (including but not limited to all displayed slides).
• List of proxies, and all data regarding any last minute changes that were made to proxy assignments, list of who voted for each proxy, list of delegates that assigned their proxies to someone else; to an organization; official, or unofficial, private or public, or business but then ended up showing up in person to vote, list of proxies that were disqualified to due to any kind of error in their paperwork or any and all problems at all.
• All data including Documents and ESI regarding voting delegates, proxies, which delegate voted for which proxy, all anonymous voters, and who every voter voted for in each candidate category, including any recasting of votes.
• All Documents and ESI referring or relating to Andy Gharakhani’s involvement in obtaining proxies for this past weekend’s Convention.
• All Documents and ESI referring or relating to Andy Gharakhani’s involvement in assigning proxies to voting delegates for this past weekend’s Convention.
Documents and active ESI that must be preserved, and may later need to be collected, may exist in places such as phones, network file servers, mainframe computers or minicomputers, stand-alone PCs and network workstations, laptops, and even on home computers, personal phones and Internet email and application servers, if they were used by CACOP staff, Padgett Communications Inc, employees, assistants, volunteers, consultants, delegates, associate delegates, proxies, advisers, boards members, candidates, and agents   for business relevant to this dispute. Discoverable ESI may also reside in remote data storage media such as social media sites, physical and Internet “cloud” backup systems, ready-access archive systems, smart phones, tablets, smart watches, flash drives, and other portable or Internet linked ESI storage media.
 
As you know, it is very important that no potentially discoverable or relevant ESI and Documents be deleted or modified. The failure to preserve discoverable materials, including ESI and Documents, may result in the imposition of penalties or sanctions against those to whom this letter is directed and also to whom this letter refers, including without limitation, officers and employees of the CAGOP and Padgett Communications Inc.

All rights reserved.
 
Sincerely,
Rachel Hamm 
Secretary of State Candidate for California"