You have the right to not send that email, but if you do, anything you say can be used against you in a court of law. Business professionals do not need a Miranda warning to understand that their email correspondences can be subject to the discovery process and compelled to disclosure if related to an issue in litigation. But can a court compel an email service provider like Yahoo to turn over a user’s email account content without that user’s involvement or consent? The Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware recently decided it cannot, at least on the specific facts facing it in the Irish Bank case.1
Background
The issue arose in a multi-jurisdiction liquidation of Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, including a Chapter 15 cross-border bankruptcy proceeding filed in the Delaware Bankruptcy Court. Irish Bank had extended approximately €2.8 billion in loans to the Quinn Group, a vast family-run empire spanning several industries. The patriarch, Seán Quinn, was widely considered the richest man in Ireland before the collapse of financial markets in 2008.
