Iron Mountain is being sued in a case that illustrates how destroying data can be a key part of managing it. (See State Fair Sues IMIM.)
The State Fair of Texas has petitioned Dallas County District Court to consider its motion for a jury trial involving eight employees of a Dallas-based Iron Mountain shredding facility and two local business owners. All are accused of illegally taking and reselling tickets to the 2004 State Fair that should have been shredded.
The fair, SFT as it's known as a nonprofit company, isn't your average country exhibition. Instead, it's reportedly the largest state fair in the U.S., taking place from the end of September to mid-October, and incorporating rides, games, animal shows and auctions, an automobile expo, and a college football game in the Dallas Cotton Bowl.
Some 3 million visitors use coupons every year to purchase rides, food, and other amenities from vendors at the fair. The coupons are coded and given serial numbers to indicate their age. Sponsors accept them as the fair's coin of realm and redeem them for cash at the end of the annual event.
If a few patrons manage not to use all their coupons, the SFT allows them to redeem them the following year. The rest of the year's unissued coupons are shredded as "dead wood." But in 2005, SFT found itself literally flooded with more than $1 million worth of old coupons -- far more than the amount for which it normally makes allowance.
