Court Concludes Rule 37(e) Does Not Apply to “situations where, as here, a party intentionally deleted the recording”
Hsueh v. N.Y. State Dep’t of Fin. Servs., No. 15 Civ. 3401 (PAC), 2017 WL 1194706 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 31, 2017)
In this case arising from claims of sexual harassment at work, the court found that an adverse inference was the appropriate remedy for Plaintiff’s deletion of a recorded conversation with an HR representative. In the course of its analysis, the court agreed with Defendants that “Rule 37(e) applies only to situations where ‘a party failed to take reasonable steps to preserve’ ESI; not to situations where, as here, a party intentionally deleted the recording” and thus relied upon inherent authority to impose sanctions.