SP 3-100a – Evidence Preservation Procedure

Colorado Community College System / System Procedure

SP 3-100a

APPROVED: August 25, 2016
EFFECTIVE: August 25, 2016
REVISED: September 13, 2023
RENUMBERED: September 13, 2023

REFERENCE(S): Board Policy (BP) 3-100, Evidence Preservation; Rule 37 of the Colorado Rules of Civil Procedure (C.R.C.P.)

APPROVED:

/ Joe Garcia /
Joseph A. Garcia, Chancellor

APPLICATION

This procedure applies to all employees within the Colorado Community College System, including its Colleges (CCCS or System).

BASIS

Pursuant to Board Policy (BP) 3-100, all employees who are notified of pending, reasonably anticipated, or current litigation shall preserve evidence that might be relevant to the claim. Evidence includes, but is not limited to, hard copy as well as electronically stored information (ESI): documents, e-mails, reports, photographs, videos, films, drawings, recordings, voice mail messages, text messages, social media posts, and cloud-based material.

PROCEDURE

The Chancellor delegates to each College President the responsibility to ensure this procedure is implemented at their institution. The Chancellor will be responsible to ensure this procedure is implemented at the System Office.

The Chancellor and Presidents shall designate someone to be the contact(s) responsible in overseeing the evidence preservation process.

CCCS Legal Affairs shall be responsible for initiating all preservation requests, in writing, to the applicable preservation contact. Additionally, CCCS Legal Affairs shall be responsible for notifying preservation contacts when a record preservation directive can be lifted and regular record retention requirements can resume.

The preservation contact shall be responsible for coordinating with CCCS Legal Affairs, CCCS Information Technology (IT), and College IT the preservation process, which includes, but is not limited to:

Communicating to all pertinent individuals of the need to preserve all relevant evidence;
Communicating with CCCS IT to make sure all pertinent user accounts are being preserved; and
Communicating with College IT to make sure all necessary steps are being taken to preserve relevant electronic evidence.

DUTY TO PRESERVE EVIDENCE

Once on notice to preserve evidence, any deliberate, negligent, or accidental destruction thereof (sometimes referred to as spoliation of evidence) may result in sanctions including, but not limited to, default judgment and incurred legal fees.

REVISING THIS PROCEDURE

CCCS reserves the right to change any provision or requirement of this procedure at any time and the change shall become effective immediately.