Key Insight: Spoliation sanctions denied because the documents still exist, and were only transferred.
Nature of Case: False representation of a company to others and the public
Electronic Data Involved: information from a computer and shared drive
Keywords: Transferrence of ESI, spoliation sanctions,
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. v. Haeger, 581 U.S. ___ (2017)
In this rare opinion from our Supreme Court addressing discovery, the court considered “a federal court’s inherent authority to sanction a litigant for bad-faith conduct by ordering it to pay the other side’s legal fees.” The court held that “such an order is limited to the fees the innocent party incurred solely because of the misconduct—or put another way, to the fees that party would not have incurred but for the bad faith.” Because neither the trial court nor the appellate court applied the correct legal standard, the judgment of the Court of Appeals (9th Cir.) was reversed and the case remanded for further proceedings.
Key Insight: no duty to preserve
Nature of Case: Assault
Electronic Data Involved: video tape recording, audio recordings
Keywords: spoliation, no duty to preserve
Key Insight: Failure to issue a litigation hold, misrepresentation that a hold had been issued, spoliation of evidence, attorney fee award.
Nature of Case: water-protection law violation
Electronic Data Involved: Not specified. However, likely, email and other electronic records.
Keywords: spoliation, litigation hold, lodestar calculation, special master.
Key Insight: Whether FRCP 37(e) applies where the duty to preserve does not arise out of the anticipation or conduct of litigation, whether sanctions issued under a court’s inherent power were appropriate
Nature of Case: False Claims Act
Electronic Data Involved: country of origin data
Keywords: Country of Origin documentation, adverse inference, Trade Agreements Act, inherent power, overwrite, direct proof or disproof
Key Insight: Whether pre-complaint discovery applies to document productions
Nature of Case: Non compete
Electronic Data Involved: pre-complaint discovery
Keywords: pre-complaint discovery
Key Insight: Sanction and adverse inference inappropriate because nothing lost/destroyed was highly probative
Nature of Case: Excessive force
Electronic Data Involved: emails, reports
Keywords: adverse inference
Key Insight: Slow responses to discovery; withholding information; Discovery fraud
Nature of Case: Personal Injury
Electronic Data Involved: Not specifically stated “documents”
Keywords: Attorney Fees; Bad Faith; Withholding information; Misconduct; Sanctions must be compensatory not punitive; Court’s inherent authority; But-For test
Key Insight: Defendant has inadequate production even when supplemented. Judge ordered meet-and-confer to work out some of the disagreements. Judge did not give either side sanctions.
Nature of Case: Breach of Contract; Consumer Fraud
Electronic Data Involved: E-mail; Electronic Database
Keywords: Meet-and-confer; Inadequate Production; Supplemental Production
Key Insight: Arrest did not trigger a duty for defendants to preserve video of alleged beating before arrest
Nature of Case: Wrongful arrest
Electronic Data Involved: video, electronic photos
Keywords: triggering duty to preserve
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