Very little is sacred these days ... particularly when you're involved in litigation.
And, with increasing frequency, we're seeing cases won (or lost) based on the content of a party's electronic communications.
According to a recent blog post by Roger Matus -- a commentator on the use of e-mails, IMs and messaging technologies -- here are the "Top 10" phrases that will get you in trouble, or flag a problem:
- "I could get into trouble for telling you this, but..."
- "Delete this email immediately."
- "I really shouldn't put this in writing."
- "Don't tell So-and-So." Or, "Don't send this to So-and-So."
- "She/He/They will never find out."
- "We're going to do this differently than normal."
- "I don't think I am supposed to know this, but..."
- "I don't want to discuss this in e-mail. Please give me a call."
- "Don't ask. You don't want to know."
- "Is this actually legal?"
"If you find yourself typing one of these phrases," Matus writes, "perhaps you should delete the entire email."
To view Matus's post, please use this link: Death by E-mail