Date: 2008-06-20 Docket: S065491 Myers J. | Link

In an action arising out of a helicopter crash, the court ordered the widow of the pilot to produce the hard disk of her husband's computer for forensic analysis. An email from the deceased produced by Transportation Safety Board in response to an access to information request was not produced by the plaintiff; the email listed problems the pilot had had with the aircraft. Upon disclosure of the email, defence counsel asked plaintiff to review the hard drive for relevant documents, including those that would have been deleted. Plaintiff's counsel engaged a forensic analyst who retrieved the subject email with attachment as well as a partial list of a helicopter log. Counsel did not provide the methodology used in reconstructing the data on the drive. The parties dispute the terms used to search for relevant information on the disk. Attorney General moves for the disk to be analysed an experts retained by the defendants, and independent counsel to review the documents, at the expense of the defendants. The purpose of the independent counsel was to ensure that all relevant documents would be produced and to protect privileged or irrelevant information. Analysis involves the discussion of the hard disk as a filing cabinet, and why, in this case, it is appropriate to have the hard disk analyzed a second time by experts retained by the defendants, provided privileged, private and non-relevant information is protected.