Court Grants Motion for Sanctions, Precludes Defendants’ Assertion of Affirmative Defense
Arista Records, LLC v. Usenet.com, Inc., 2009 WL 1873589 (S.D.N.Y. June 30, 2009)
In this copyright infringement case, plaintiffs alleged defendants committed egregious discovery violations deserving of terminating sanctions. The violations included wiping relevant hard drives of its employees, failing to preserve and produce relevant emails, providing misleading responses to discovery, and violating two court orders, among other things. Finding plaintiffs’ accusations credible in light of the evidence presented, the court denied their request for terminating sanctions but precluded defendants from asserting their affirmative defense of protection under the relevant statute’s safe harbor provision. The court then granted summary judgment in favor of the plaintiffs.