Key Insight: Failure to produce; Sanctions; Proportionality
Nature of Case: Trademark & Copyright infringement
Electronic Data Involved: Hard copy; correspondence; email
Keywords: “Functional employee”; Consultant; Third-party communications; Privilege; Spoliation; Unfair prejudice; Attorney’s fees and costs; Proportionality; Access/Resources;
Key Insight: whether the issue of spoliation could be brought before the jury to decide if evidence was withheld and if that was justified
Nature of Case: personal injury, motor vehicle
Electronic Data Involved: Log books of defendant
Keywords: spoliation, jury instruction, question of law/fact
Key Insight: spoliation of video evidence requested by plaintiff
Nature of Case: Slip and fall liability
Electronic Data Involved: Surveillance camera footage
Keywords: spoliation, surveillance, sanctions
Key Insight: Severe sanctions will not be granted where bad faith cannot be proved and no prejudice.
Nature of Case: Automobile collision.
Electronic Data Involved: Mobile phone data.
Keywords: intentional destruction, adverse inference
Key Insight: is it spoliation for an insurance company to destroy a recorded statement of the accident when the loss of the information is minimally prejudicial
Nature of Case: insurance bad faith
Electronic Data Involved: Audio Recordings, recorded statement
Keywords: recorded statement, prejudice, spoliation
Key Insight: Party could still be sanctioned to pay expert fees where party unsuccessfully altered evidence.
Nature of Case: Automobile accident.
Electronic Data Involved: Photographs and videos.
Keywords: “altering” “deleting” “deliberate[ly]” “computer scientist” “Facebook post”
Key Insight: Plaintiff never articulated claims that would make reasonable person believe lawsuit was likely. No duty to preserve had yet attached when Plaintiff when to HR.
Nature of Case: Discrimination
Electronic Data Involved: emails and SAP account
Keywords: Imminent litigation; adverse inference
Key Insight: Both sides moved for spoliation sanctions. Court was troubled by failure to suspend automatic deletion and loss of personal cell phone, but imposed no sanctions.
Nature of Case: Employee Termination/Discrimination
Electronic Data Involved: cell phones, company computer, notebooks
Keywords: spoliation; sanctions; automatic deletion
Key Insight: The obligation to preserve evidence in a workplace discrimination suit can extend to personal devices known to contain relevant material.
Nature of Case: workplace discrimination
Electronic Data Involved: text messages
Keywords: personal device, text message, obligation to preserve
Key Insight: whether the party acted willfully in destroying electronic information by installing a new operating system to his remote access computer
Nature of Case: employment discrimination and retaliation
Electronic Data Involved: destroyed electronically stored information
Keywords: spoliation, updating operating system, electronically stored information
Copyright © 2022, K&L Gates LLP. All Rights Reserved.