When an employee of Georgia Institute of Technology (“Georgia Tech” or the “Institute”) receives notice of actual or potential litigation against the Institute or reasonably anticipates that litigation may occur, Legal Affairs with the Office of the General Counsel must be immediately notified at asklegal@gatech.edu. The matter will be assigned to an attorney from theEmployment and Litigation team within Legal Affairs for case handling and management.

Key Indicators of Potential Litigation

Types of actions that may indicate potential litigation include:

• Lawsuit filed in state or federal courts.
• Claim or complaint filed with federal or state agencies.
• The Institute receives a written demand concerning a claim or complaint.
• Ante litem notices filed with the University System of Georgia (“Board of Regents”), Georgia Tech, or the Georgia Department of Administrative Services (“DOAS”).
• A manager or high-level employee receives any written or verbal notice or has knowledge that a legal claim against the Institute is likely.
• Subpoenas for Institute records pertaining to current or potential claims.
• Open records requests concerning existing or potential claims against the Institute.

Should you encounter any of these situations and are uncertain if they constitute potential litigation, please contact Legal Affairs at asklegal@gatech.edu.

Litigation Hold Process

Once Legal Affairs has been notified of potential litigation stemming from any of the above actions, the next step is to issue a Litigation Hold (or Legal Hold). A litigation hold is a directive instructing record custodians at Georgia Tech not to delete or destroy any documents or information related to the potential litigation.

The assigned Legal Affairs attorney will email a litigation hold to the record custodian’s Georgia Tech email address.The hold will specifically state: 1) the underlying reason for the directive, 2) the relevant time period for preserving documents and information, and 3)the record custodian’s specific responsibilities for preserving documents and information.

• IMPORTANT: If you receive a litigation hold from the Legal Affairs. you must acknowledge receipt of the document.

Be aware that litigation hold from Legal Affairs will be explicitly identified as such. Should you receive a notice requesting you preserve documents from any other source, immediately contact asklegal@gatech.edu. 

Confidentiality

Both the communication regarding the litigation hold and the litigation hold itself are confidential. They should not be shared with anyone not included on the litigation hold communication, particularly those outside of Georgia Tech.