Failure to Conduct Reasonable Investigation for Responsive Documents and Other Discovery Abuses Warrant Adverse Inference Instruction
3M Innovative Props. Co. v. Tomar Elecs., 2006 WL 2670038 (D. Minn. Sept. 18, 2006)
In this patent infringement litigation, the district court judge affirmed the magistrate’s report and recommendation that plaintiff’s motion for sanctions against the defendant be granted in part. 3M offered three bases for sanctions: (1) Tomar gave false discovery responses; (2) Tomar failed to retain, collect, and produce court-ordered documents; and (3) Tomar engaged in deposition misconduct. 3M requested that judgment be entered against Tomar, or alternatively, that the court issue multiple sanctions including an adverse inference instruction.
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