Key Insight: Court cites rule 37, but not 37(e). No bad faith found for video that automatically overwrote footage, but allowed to question defendant about presence of camera and whereabouts of footage
Nature of Case: Personal injury (automobile accident)
Electronic Data Involved: Electronic data generally (photographs, videos, sketches, maps, diagrams), video
Keywords: ECM data, triggering event
Key Insight: Defendant’s failure to preserve the relevant ESI.
Nature of Case: Motor vehicle accident
Electronic Data Involved: Electronic Data/Electronic Control Module (ECM) Vehicle Data Recorder/Black Box and associated data.
Keywords: Spoliation, ECM data
Key Insight: Sanctions for willful destruction of cell phone after receiving demand to preserve
Nature of Case: workplace discrimination
Electronic Data Involved: text messages
Keywords: spoliation, preservation of evidence, text messages, iCloud
Key Insight: Severe sanctions require intent and actual loss of evidence,
Nature of Case: Antitrust
Electronic Data Involved: E-mails
Keywords: email jail, litigation hold, transport dumpster,
Key Insight: Missing video wouln’t change outcome of summary judgment, so no sanctions needed under 37(e)
Nature of Case: prisoner civil rights
Electronic Data Involved: video
Keywords: prisoner video, missing ESI summary judgment
Key Insight: Whether deleted ESI and destroyed notebooks were relevant and, if so, whether there is sufficient evidence to find that spoliation was intentional or resulted in prejudice; whether sanction of reasonable costs is appropriate
Nature of Case: contract dispute
Electronic Data Involved: deleted e-mail, deleted electronic records, hard-copy notebooks
Keywords: spoliation, sanctions, notebook, litigation hold, bad faith, prejudice, deleted, legal hold, negligence, retention policy, backups
Key Insight: Deletion of files, destruction of evidence.
Nature of Case: Alleged defendant use of plaintiff’s trade-secret information
Electronic Data Involved: computer images
Keywords: destruction of evidence, forensic examination
Key Insight: A different office overwrote the recordings, and thus it would be unjust to punish defendant for something they did not do. Moreover, there was no notice, and the recordings were overwritten as a normal course of business.
Nature of Case: Excessive force, 4th/5th amendments
Electronic Data Involved: Recordings of radio calls
Keywords: Notice of duty to preserve, safe harbor, spoliation sanctions, intent to deprive, failure to act
Key Insight: No spoliation because no showing that “either Defendants or their counsel acted” with an “intent to deprive” merely that there was “confusion and ineptitude.”
Nature of Case: breach of licensing agreement
Electronic Data Involved: business laptop and several external drives
Keywords: intent to deprive, spoliation, evaluate the reasonableness of preservation efforts.
Key Insight: Court was troubled by lack of full video recording, especially how the only preserved parts were favorable to defendants, recommended recruited counsel on remand for additional depositions and to see if additional recordings exist
Nature of Case: Eighth Amendment
Electronic Data Involved: Security camera recording
Keywords: Cruel and unusual punishment, deliberate indifference, eighth amendment
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