A court hold may be issued to preserve all documentation related to a lawsuit or potential lawsuit in order to avoid loss of evidence. This includes electronic records and product complaints, whether they are paper documents or electronically stored information (ESI). A litigation hold may be issued by an attorney to the manufacturing/service company or within the manufacturing/service company and requires the data in question to be protected so that it is available to the discovery process during the litigation. If a company loses or destroys key tangible or electronic documents, the courts may decide to automatically conclude that the materials were unfavorable to the defendant. In addition, the company may have to pay penalties, including monetary penalties and reimbursement of the opposing party’s legal costs, if it fails to comply with the injunction. Also called a “preservation order” or “preservation order”.