Litigation Hold Policy

1. Introduction

This Litigation Hold Policy describes the procedures by which Verifore Technologies LLC, a Louisiana limited liability company, preserves Evidence, Certificates, audit logs, and associated metadata in response to litigation hold notices for the Attested platform (the "Service").

The Service's Litigation Hold feature is available to Professional and Enterprise Subscribers to support compliance with legal preservation obligations, including those required by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) and similar state-level discovery rules.

2. Preservation Upon Notice

Upon receipt of a written notice of litigation hold from a Subscriber or a court of competent jurisdiction, Verifore Technologies LLC will preserve all Evidence, Certificates, audit logs, and associated metadata related to the matter specified in the hold notice for the duration of the hold.

Held data will be preserved in its original form, with SHA-256 cryptographic hashes intact, until the hold is released in writing.

3. Evidence Integrity Architecture

The Service incorporates technology covered by U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 64/009,852, filed March 18, 2026. The render-time watermarking system described in the patent application ensures that the integrity of held Evidence is preserved separately from any viewer-specific watermarks applied at the time of access.

3.1 What is preserved under a litigation hold:

• The original uploaded file (video, image, audio, or document)
• All file metadata (upload date, SHA-256 hash, file size, MIME type)
• Complete access logs (every view, timestamp, IP address, user agent)
• Share tokens and Certificates generated for the file
• Document Review audit records (when, by whom, against which file)
• Preservation history (when the hold was placed, by whom, and the stated reason)

3.2 Watermark separation: Viewer-specific watermarks are applied at render time and do not modify the stored original file. The original Evidence file remains unaltered throughout the preservation period regardless of how many times it is viewed or by whom.

4. Subscriber Obligations During Hold

Subscribers under active litigation hold may not delete, modify, or export held Evidence in a manner that would break the chain of custody.

Verifore Technologies LLC reserves the right to suspend deletion functionality on held accounts to prevent inadvertent spoliation. When deletion is suspended, the Subscriber will be notified and provided with the specific files and matters affected.

4.1 Subscribers are responsible for:

• Determining Preservation Obligations: The Service does not provide legal advice. You must consult your own legal counsel to determine when preservation is required.
• Enabling Preservation Promptly: Preservation must be enabled before files expire. The Service cannot recover expired files.
• Documenting Preservation Reasons: Always provide a clear, specific reason when enabling or releasing preservation holds.
• Maintaining Backups: While the Service provides reliable storage and preservation tools, we strongly recommend maintaining your own backups of critical evidence.
• Releasing Holds Appropriately: Do not release preservation holds until you have confirmed with legal counsel that preservation is no longer required.

5. Availability

The Litigation Hold feature is available to:

• Professional Subscribers
• Enterprise Subscribers

This feature is NOT available to Essential (Free) Subscribers. Files on the Essential tier always use Temporary Access with automatic expiration.

6. How to Enable a Litigation Hold

Litigation holds can be enabled from your Attested dashboard:

1. Navigate to your dashboard and locate the file you want to preserve
2. Click on the file to open its details view
3. In the file metadata panel, toggle "Litigation Hold" to ON
4. Provide a reason for preservation (e.g., "Active litigation, Case No. 12345")
5. Confirm the preservation

Once enabled, the file will no longer expire automatically. It will be retained indefinitely until you explicitly release the hold.

7. Submitting a Litigation Hold Notice

Litigation hold notices should be submitted to anthony@attested.legal with the subject line "LITIGATION HOLD NOTICE" and must include:

Verifore Technologies LLC will acknowledge receipt of the litigation hold notice within two (2) business days and implement the hold promptly.

8. Releasing a Litigation Hold

When a litigation hold is no longer required (e.g., litigation has concluded, regulatory matter closed), the hold may be released:

1. Navigate to the preserved file in your dashboard
2. In the file metadata panel, toggle "Litigation Hold" to OFF
3. Provide a reason for releasing the hold (e.g., "Case dismissed, no further preservation required")
4. Confirm the release

Important: Once a hold is released, the file will revert to its original expiration schedule. If the expiration date has already passed, the file may be deleted immediately. Always download or export preserved files before releasing the hold if you need to retain them.

9. Preservation Audit Trail

Every preservation action is logged in a complete audit trail:

• Preservation Enabled: Timestamp, user, reason provided
• Preservation Released: Timestamp, user, reason for release
• All File Access Events: Complete access audit trail maintained during preservation

This audit trail is included in FRE 902(13) Certificates and can be exported at any time.

10. Storage Limits and Preservation

Preserved files count toward your subscription's storage limit:

• Professional: 50 GB storage limit
• Enterprise: 500 GB storage limit

If you approach your storage limit due to preserved files, you may need to release holds on files no longer subject to legal obligations, upgrade to a higher tier, or export and delete files while retaining access logs and Certificates.

11. Account Termination and Preservation

If you close your account while files are under litigation hold:

• 30-Day Grace Period: Your account data is retained for 30 days after closure
• Download Window: You have 30 days to download all preserved files, Certificates, and access logs
• Permanent Deletion: After 30 days, all files are permanently deleted
• Certificates Retained: Access logs and Certificates are retained for 7 years per our data retention policy

Important: If you have active preservation obligations, do not close your account until those obligations are satisfied or until you have exported all Evidence to another preservation system.

12. Compliance Support

The Service's Litigation Hold feature is designed to support compliance with:

• Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) Rule 37(e): Preservation of electronically stored information (ESI)
• State-level preservation rules (varies by jurisdiction)
• Regulatory preservation requirements

However, the Service does not guarantee that use of this feature will satisfy all preservation obligations in all jurisdictions or cases. Legal requirements vary, and Subscribers should consult legal counsel.

13. Severability

If any provision of this Litigation Hold Policy is held to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect.

14. Governing Law

This Litigation Hold Policy is governed by the laws of the State of Louisiana, without regard to conflict of laws principles. Any dispute arising from this policy shall be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana.

15. Contact Information

Verifore Technologies LLC
Metairie, Louisiana

For questions about litigation holds or to submit a hold notice:
anthony@attested.legal