You Needn’t Keep Everything Forever: No Sanctions for Non-Party’s Failure to Produce because of Retention Policies, Technology Changes
United Corp. v. Tutu Park Ltd., No. ST-2001-CV-361, 2015 WL 457853 (V.I. Jan. 28, 2015)
In December 2012, the court in this case issued a subpoena directing Kmart Corporation (“Kmart”) to produce twenty-one categories of documents and later granted Plaintiff’s motion to compel the same. Accordingly, Kmart produced responsive documentation, but not to Plaintiff’s satisfaction. Plaintiff thereafter moved for sanctions and for Kmart to be held in contempt. Concluding that Kmart made a reasonable attempt to provide responsive documentation, and acknowledging Kmart’s explanations for their inability to provide more, including the destruction of documents pursuant to their document retention policy and changes in technology, the court declined to impose sanctions or to hold Kmart in contempt.