Litigation Holds – Page 2

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January 20, 2017

Mississippi Court of Appeals Reverses Jury Award of $0, Finding Spoliation Instruction Improper

In Teal v. Jones, Case No. 2015-00259 (Miss. Ct. App., Jan. 3, 2017), Plaintiff sued her ex-husband’s former mistress for alienation of affections. The divorce between Plaintiff and her ex-husband was finalized in June 2008; however, after the divorce was over, Plaintiff learned about the extramarital affair between Defendant and her ex-husband. The jury at

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January 18, 2017

Spoliation Not Addressed In Meaningful Way So Tenth Circuit Court Affirms Summary Judgment

In Helget v. City of Hays, et. al., Case No. 15-3093 (10th Cir., Jan. 4, 2017), Plaintiff, a former employee with the City of Hays’ police department, alleged that because she provided an affidavit in support of another employee’s wrongful termination lawsuit against the City, she herself was terminated in 2012. She then filed a

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January 3, 2017

Amended FRCP 37(e) Imposes Higher Culpability for ESI Spoliation Sanctions in 2016 Case Law

In December 2015, the Amended Federal Rules of Civil Procedure went into effect. One of the updated amendments included FRCP 37(e), Failure to Preserve Electronically Stored Information. The amendment raised the requisite intent to have the court order spoliation sanctions, including an adverse inference instruction and terminating sanctions. Attorney fees and costs may still be

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December 27, 2016

The Importance and Effect of a Litigation Hold: Spoliation Sanctions Cases

Spoliation of electronic evidence can be a relatively common occurrence. Many corporate entities routinely delete ESI as part of document retention policies, particularly when an employee has left the company and his or her computer is reclaimed. For that reason, in litigation involving the production of ESI, a litigation hold letter is an essential tool

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December 16, 2016

Wrongful Death Plaintiff Awarded Attorneys’ Fees for Defendant Failure to Preserve ESI and Other Evidence

In wrongful death case McQueen et. al. v. Aramark Corp. et. al., Case No. 15-492 (D. Utah, Nov. 29, 2016), Plaintiff’s decedent, Alec McQueen, was killed in an incident at the Bullfrog Marina. On August 15, 2014, before filing the lawsuit, Plaintiff sent a litigation hold letter to Defendant demanding that Defendant preserve documents relevant

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December 9, 2016

U.S. Postal Service Sanctioned for Discovery Violations Against Former Employee

In Adcox v. U.S. Postal Service, Case No. 15-9258 (D. Kansas, Nov. 22, 2016), Plaintiff, a rural mail carrier, sued Defendant for gender discrimination, harassment, retaliation and hostile work environment alleged between 2010 and 2012. She filed her case on September 11, 2015. During discovery, Plaintiff had difficulty obtaining discovery responses from Defendant; she had

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November 18, 2016

No Spoliation in Puerto Rico Age Discrimination Case Where No Intent to Deprive Plaintiff of Emails

In Luz Gonzalez-Bermudez v. Abbott Laboratories PR Inc., et. al., Case No. 14-1620 (D. P.R., Oct. 9, 2016), Plaintiff sued her former employer, Abbott, and her supervisor, Perez, for age discrimination and retaliation under the ADEA as well as the laws of Puerto Rico. On October 15, 2013 and December 2, 2013, Plaintiff’s counsel sent

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November 16, 2016

What are the Top eDiscovery Case Law Trends of 2016?

Each week, our plaintiff electronic discovery firm publishes summaries of the top eDiscovery case law opinions and notes the trends taking place throughout the country. One trend we’ve seen this year includes the rise of requests for terminating sanctions for electronic discovery violations. Additionally, we continue to see more cases regarding predictive coding, as this

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November 11, 2016

Court Imposes $150 Daily Monetary Sanction Due to Plaintiff’s Failure to Produce ESI

In Friedman v. SThree PLC, et al., Civil No. 3:14CV00378(AWT) (D.Conn. October 24, 2016), Defendants expressed dissatisfaction with Plaintiff’s answers to discovery responses. After holding a conference with the court, the court issued an order requiring Plaintiff to conduct additional searches, to provide a certification as to the completeness of their discovery responses, to identify any

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November 4, 2016

Defendant Required to Produce Emails Relevant to Hours Worked in FLSA Case

In Boyington v. Percheron Field Services, LLC, Case No. 14-90 (W.D. P.A., Oct. 14, 2016), a lawsuit brought by an employee of Defendant on behalf of himself and others similarly situated for nonpayment of overtime wages, Plaintiff alleges that Defendant improperly classified Plaintiff and his coworkers as exempt employees under the FLSA and the Pennsylvania