In re: CCA Recordings 2255 Litigation v. United States of America (D. Kan. 2021)
Key Insight: Petitioners filed an action alleging the government violated their Sixth Amendment rights by recording their conversations and meetings with counsel while detained at Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). Petitioners sought spoliation sanctions against CCA, alleging an upgrade to the operating system where the recordings were saved wiped all metadata that would have shown if the US attorneys viewed the video recordings containing privileged communications. The court denied the motion, finding petitioners could not establish the threshold question: whether any metadata actually existed to show who logged in to view the recordings. “If there is no evidence that logging metadata ever existed, it could not have been intentionally destroyed to deprive petitioners of its use, and there can be no spoliation as it relates to that specific ESI relevant to petitioners’ claims.”
Nature of Case: Violation of Sixth Amendment Rights
Electronic Data Involved: Video Recordings