SpoliationSanction

ilsteam
August 8, 2017

The Adjudication of Adverse Inference Instructions as Spoliation Sanctions: An Update

Last year, we published a newsletter that provided practitioners a survey of case opinions re how courts adjudicated applications for adverse inference instructions sanctions based upon accusations of ESI/discovery spoliation. Since that newsletter was posted, additional opinions relative to this topic have issued, and so ILS is providing you this update. Below are summaries of

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June 7, 2017

Preclusion Motion Denied Where No Bad Faith in Deletion Of Smartphone Original Audio, and Party Waited Too Long To Seek Original

In Kennedy v. Supreme Forest Products, Inc., Case No. 14-01851 (D. Conn., May 22, 2017), Plaintiff, a truck driver, sued Defendants, his employers, for violation the Surface Transportation Assistance Act (STAA), based upon allegations that Defendants terminated his employment because he refused to drive trucks that were loaded over the federal weight limit. During his

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July 22, 2016

Court Awards Sanctions After Party Voluntarily Dismisses Case Due To ESI Discovery Deficiencies

In Transystems Corp. v. Hughes Associates, Inc., Case No. 14-1541 (M.D.P.A., June 30, 2016), Plaintiff settled with one party in a contract and indemnification action arising from a construction project, and later sued Defendant regarding the same project. Between the time of the settlement and the initiation of the instant matter, Plaintiff closed one of its

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May 23, 2016

Electronic Discovery and Spoliation in Employment Law Cases: An Update

Plaintiff ESI and Employer Electronic Data at Issue Employment law cases, whether they are individual or class action lawsuits, will almost invariably involve eDiscovery. In some situations, employees’ computers, hard drives, flash drives and mobile devices may be requested for production and/or forensic imaging. Additionally, employees need to request a litigation hold for all relevant

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April 15, 2016

Northern District of California Denies Motion in Limine to Exclude Spoliation Evidence at Trial

In the trademark infringement case Internmatch, Inc. v. Nxtbgthing, LLC, et. al., Case No. 14-05438 (N.D. Cal., Mar. 28, 2016), Plaintiff filed a motion for terminating sanctions against Defendants, alleging that Defendants intentionally destroyed electronic versions of documents that demonstrated their alleged use of the disputed trademark. The spoliation motion included documents from the individual

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January 22, 2016

Jury to Decide ESI Spoliation Issue in Wrongful Termination Suit

In Evans v. Quintiles Transnational Corp., Case No. 13-00987 (D. S.C., Dec. 23, 2015), Plaintiff sued Defendant, her former employer, for wrongful termination. She alleged she was terminated in retaliation after she expressed a desire to report her supervisor for an argument they had about commission. On summary judgment, the court disposed of all Plaintiff’s claims