Records systems delete on schedules. Email retention policies purge. Backups rotate. None of that is sinister — until litigation is anticipated, at which point the automatic machinery becomes destruction of evidence unless someone stops it.
The duty attaches early
It does not wait for a complaint to be served. It attaches when litigation is reasonably anticipated, which is why documented preservation notices matter so much: they remove any argument that the party did not see it coming.
Why it needs a named owner
Evidence in a county sits across departments, contractors, and software vendors. A hold that nobody owns is a hold that nobody implements. That is why preservation letters demand an identified executive with cross-vendor authority.
The documented comparison
The Village of Lincolnshire confirmed a hold in force since June 6 in a single page. Through July 30, no equivalent written acknowledgment from Lake County offices appears in the indexed response set. See the comparison and the Silence Ledger.