Culpability for Allowing Evidence to Become Inaccessible a Factor for Consideration when Determining Good Cause to Compel Production
Major Tours, Inc. v. Colorel, 2010 WL 2557250 (D.N.J. June 22, 2010)
Appealing an order from the magistrate judge, plaintiffs argued that defendants should bear the costs of producing inaccessible data where it was defendants’ failure to preserve that resulted in the data’s inaccessibility. The court declined to support such a rule, finding that defendants’ culpability was merely a factor for consideration when deciding whether to compel production for good cause. The court also found that the magistrate judge had adequately considered defendants’ culpability when crafting the underlying order and did not abuse his discretion. Accordingly, the order was affirmed.