Forensic investigation of original documents in electronic court files makes use of the electronic resources that are now available, and also makes use of traditional research techniques that were the only practical ways to conduct legal research in earlier times. It's what an automobile lender client of mine once called "hand's on inventory," meaning that he wanted to be able to put his hands on (or have someone he paid to do it put their hands on) the hood of every car they financed on a dealer's lot. After that was done, then he knew whether or not the collateral for his loans to the dealer was accounted for, and not just what the dealer told him.
It is important to keep in mind that forensic investigation of original documents in actual court files is an aid in doing the research, not the only thing to do. Nonetheless, it brings documents to life in ways that words alone sometimes fail to capture. You can see things in a court file that you cannot "see" in the reports of decided cases.
Sometimes you see bad faith blatantly making an appearance.
For example, while researching my book on Lender Force-Placed Insurance Practices (American Bar Association 2015), I came across many depositions with a lot of testimony blacked out. Using forensic investigation of original documents in actual court files allowed me and can allow you to learn things that neither of us could know in any other way.
As an example, in one case I came across two filed deposition transcripts of a corporate representative of two of the defendants in the case, a defendant bank and its putative insurance "agency." In the first-filed version of the corporate representative's testimony, some 125 pages had been blacked out or "redacted" out of 172 pages of deposition transcript. Illustration 1 provides a sample of redacted pages compared with the same pages after a judge lifted the blackout. In this Illustration, the corporate representative's testimony is revealed that the alleged insurance agency defendant did nothing typical of an insurance agent but it collected some 8 to 10 million dollars in one year for "commissions" it received as "an insurance agent" placing insurance on borrowers by force. Download Illustration #1 DEPO CORP REP CHASE HOME FINANCE AND J P MORGAN CHASE BANK 01 11 11 Hofstetter v Chase (N D Cal No CV 1313 WHA). For those who would like to see the 125 blacked-out pages in the entire transcript, I am making the entire transcript available here.[1]
Less than one month later, the same testimony was filed open to the public by Court Order. In other words, the same deposition transcript was ordered to be filed without any testimony being blacked out. Take a look at Illustration 2. Download Illustration #2 DEPO CORP REP CHASE HOME FINANCE AND J P MORGAN CHASE BANK 01 11 11 Hofstetter v Chase (N D Cal No CV 1313 WHA). The first of the two pages in this Illustration shows four pages of condensed deposition transcript, each one totally blacked out. The second page shows this time the testimony that became open to public view. The entire unredacted deposition transcript is now available here.[2]
A picture may truly be worth a thousand words.
[1] Deposition of Chase Home Finance and JPMorgan Chase Bank, corporate designee, taken January 11, 2001 in Hofstetter v. Chase Home Finance, LLC, Doc. 132-1, filed on February 17, 2011 (N.D. Cal. No. CV-10-1313 WHA). Here: Download Hofstetter REDACTED DEPO AS FILED 02.17.11 TAKEN ON 01.11.11 Chase Home Finance and JPMorgan Chase Bank.
[2] Deposition of Chase Home Finance and JPMorgan Chase Bank, corporate designee, taken January 11, 2001 in Hofstetter v. Chase Home Finance, LLC, Doc. 160, filed on March 9, 2011 (N.D. Cal. No. CV-10-1313 WHA). Here: Download Hofstetter UNREDACTED DEPO BY COURT ORDER of 01.11.11 Chase Home Finance and JPMorgan Chase Bank.
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