Key Insight: Discovery sanctions motion.
Nature of Case: Workplace discrimination.
Electronic Data Involved: Employment records including personnel files of supervisors and documents regarding performance of other employees.
Keywords: Failure to preserve, search terms, motion to compel.
Key Insight: If a party cannot show that destruction of video footage was intentional, then sanctions can be awarded unless it can be shown that the destroyed evidence would be relevant.
Nature of Case: grocery store slip and fall
Electronic Data Involved: surveillance camera footage
Keywords: video surveillance, spoliation, intentional destruction of evidence
Key Insight: Sanctions for attorney’s fees are warranted when computer files are deleted (even if they are recovered) and when a phone is recklessly lost in a “palpably suspicious” incident.
Nature of Case: Corporate management disputes between co-founders
Electronic Data Involved: cell phone contents, computer files
Keywords: spoliation, palpably suspicious, lost phone, ineffective spoliation, reckless failure to preserve
Key Insight: Plaintiff was arrested while police pursuing his brother. Videos from car were mis-labeled and therefore destroyed. Plaintiff could not show bad faith, so no adverse inference instruction.
Nature of Case: civil rights
Electronic Data Involved: Police Car Videos
Keywords: adverse inference; sanctions; bad faith
Key Insight: Sanctions for failure to preserve. Plaintiff did not issue a litigation hold until 23 months after reasonable anticipation of litigation.
Nature of Case: Legal malpractice
Electronic Data Involved: ESI destroyed under plaintiff’s record destruction policies: Backup tapes, routine deletion of emails, erasure of hard drives/email accounts.
Keywords: Preservation, spoliation sanctions, adverse inference charge, litigation hold.
Key Insight: The Village did not preserve the facebook posts or text messages despite having that duty. Court ruled that severe sanctions were warranted including an adverse inference and legal fees.
Nature of Case: discrimination; zoning
Electronic Data Involved: Facebook posts and text messages
Keywords: adverse inference; facebook, texts
Key Insight: Plaintiff threatened legal action, but failed to have it’s vendor stop automatic deletion and did not preserve recrods when email system changed. Defendant was prejudiced by this spoilation. Court allowed witnesses to testify to spoilation and potential contents of those communications.
Nature of Case: incentive programs and Robinson-Patman Act violations
Electronic Data Involved: internal and external communications
Keywords: spoilation; vendor
Key Insight: Court concluded defendant had duty to preserve oily substance and was negligent in doing so. Permissive adverse inference instruction granted.
Nature of Case: personal injury
Electronic Data Involved: oily substance plaintiff slipped on
Keywords: adverse inference;
Key Insight: Plaintiff unsuccessfully seeks injunction to prevent destruction of certain evidence. Defendants argued that sanctions would be inappropriate and no spoliation had occurred.
Nature of Case: Inmate pro se plaintiff asserts a host of constitutional violations against the U.S. and individual prison personnel.
Electronic Data Involved: Deleted video footage.
Keywords: Failure to preserve, destruction of evidence, spoliation, adverse inference.
Key Insight: Failure to preserve relevant evidence.
Nature of Case: Trademark ownership dispute.
Electronic Data Involved: Defendants discarded computers, following an alleged power surge which “fried” data.
Keywords: Defendants “willfully spoliated evidence” and the “extraordinary measures Batterman undertook to mislead opposing counsel and the Court merit a finding of bad faith.”
Copyright © 2022, K&L Gates LLP. All Rights Reserved.