London's Technology and Construction Court has recently found that a company did not own the emails of its former Chief Executive Office, even though they were work related.

The case turned on its own facts, one of which involved the senior executive sending and receiving company emails using private or non corporate accounts and servers.

The physical storage of the emails was what caused the problem.  At a practical level, the emails were not on the employer’s servers.  Some had been sent using the executive’s private account (and therefore held on external third party servers), others had been sent from a work server, but copied to the personal server and, thereafter, deleted from the employer’s server.

Access to emails is often an important management tool, which facilitates good and proper administration, in relation to the affairs of a business, but, also, is important in corporate negotiations and, potentially, disciplinary matters.  In those circumstances, it is important to ensure that emails of a work nature are sent and received using company facilities and not by utilising private or non corporate accounts and servers.