Key Insight: Refusal to produce documents. Clergy-penitent privilege
Nature of Case: Negligence and failure to warn (Sexual Abuse)
Electronic Data Involved: letter,email, fax,ESI
Keywords: Willful refusal to comply with discovery order; Monetary sanctions; Judicial estoppel
Key Insight: Applying the former version of Rule 37(e), because the current version is not retroactive, there is no duty to preserve regularly overwritten business audio recordings absent notice to do so.
Nature of Case: Many, including unlawful arrest
Electronic Data Involved: telephone recordings and video and audio
Keywords: duty to preserve, spoliation sanctions,
Key Insight: Fabricated evidence leads to terminating sanctions
Nature of Case: Employment discrimination, sexual harassment
Electronic Data Involved: Text messages
Keywords: dismissed with prejudice, fabrication, title VII, termination sanctions
Key Insight: whether missing evidence is crucial to movant’s case, whether non-movant had intent to deprive
Nature of Case: employment discrimination
Electronic Data Involved: hard copy, email
Keywords: duty to preserve, litigation hold, permissible inference, bad faith
Key Insight: Failure to address standards for spoliation of ESI, no showing of entitlement to adverse inference instruction.
Nature of Case: defamation
Electronic Data Involved: AGGIS and Cybersource systems
Keywords: adverse inference instruction
Key Insight: which version of FRCP 37(e) should be applied where the issue was raised before the new version became effected but the motion was filed, whether after its effective date?
Nature of Case: employment
Electronic Data Involved: email
Keywords: adverse instruction, intent to deprive, duty to preserve, culpability, web hosting, relevance, prejudice
Key Insight: Plaintiff produced two versions of email (both dated before filing). Defendant argued one was fake and an attempt to bolster Plaintiff’s claim. Court deemed that dismissal was too harsh a sanction and denied dismissal sanction request.
Nature of Case: Family Medical Leave Act Violations
Electronic Data Involved: E-Mails
Keywords: Duplicate E-mail; Dismissal Sanction
Key Insight: The onset of the duty under Rule 37(e) does not have to say which exact kind of litigation that will occur. Prejudice was not found, but the question of intent was pushed to later.
Nature of Case: Contract, copyright
Electronic Data Involved: records, documents, and logs of the company
Keywords: Spoliation, intent to deprive, sanctions, prejudice
Key Insight: Was the email account in question deleted with prejudice? Court found no prejudice, standard practice of deletion plus deletion was done a year before notice of legislation. Opinion however does not cite Rule 37(e)
Nature of Case: School charter renewal dispute/constitutional
Electronic Data Involved: Email account
Keywords: spoliation, sanctions
Key Insight: Court analyzed sanction request without determining if the footage was ESI, and without citing37(e). Court states that no spoliation occurred because there is no bad faith or notice of imminent legislation.
Nature of Case: 1983 legislation
Electronic Data Involved: Prison video surveillance
Keywords: spoliation, video,
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