News & Analysis as of

Destruction of Evidence Spoliation

BakerHostetler

Antitrust Sanctions: The Duty to Preserve Chats

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On August 5, 2024, District Judge Amit P. Mehta (U.S. District Court, District of Columbia) ruled in United States v. Google LLC that Google violated §2 of the Sherman Act by monopolizing the internet search engine market....more

Locke Lord LLP

Spoliation: When the Duty to Preserve Data Outweighs the Obligation to Delete

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Implementing and enforcing appropriate legal holds is essential to preventing the destruction of data related to current or anticipated litigation and avoiding inadvertent spoliation claims. Depending on the nature of the...more

EDRM - Electronic Discovery Reference Model

April’s Notable Cases and Events in E-Discovery

[Editor’s Note: This article was first published April 17, 2024 and EDRM is grateful to Tom Paskowitz and Robert Keeling of our Trusted Partner, Sidley, for permission to republish. The opinions and positions are those of the...more

Morris James LLP

Spoliation of Email and Texts Leads to Adverse Inferences and Fee Shifting

Morris James LLP on

Gener8 LLC v. Castanon, 2022-0246-LWW (Del. Ch. Sept. 29, 2023) - This dispute concerned a non-compete agreement that the plaintiffs alleged the defendant breached by establishing a competing business. The defendant denied...more

Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P.

Fifth Circuit Clarifies Standards Regarding Spoliation of Evidence and Expert Witness Qualifications

The Fifth Circuit’s recent decision in Van Winkle v. Rogers, No. 22-30638, 2023 WL 5994138 (5th Cir. Sept. 15, 2023), underscores the critical importance of preserving evidence while also reinforcing Federal Rule of Evidence...more

White and Williams LLP

Indiana Appellate Court Allows Third-Party Spoliation Claim to Proceed

White and Williams LLP on

In Safeco Insurance Company of Indiana as Subrogee of Ramona Smith v. Blue Sky Innovation Group, Inc., et al, No. 22A-CT-1924, 2023 Ind. App. LEXIS 157, the Court of Appeals of Indiana (Appellate Court) reversed a trial court...more

Reveal

Preservation of Evidence: Methods and Best Practices You Should Adopt in 2023

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In our adversarial justice system, litigants rely on evidence to explain their side of a dispute. Today, much of that evidence is digital. If an organization allows digital evidence to be compromised, lost, or destroyed, it...more

Burns & Levinson LLP

Are You Prepared to Avoid Spoliation? The Duty to Preserve Begins Sooner Than You Might Think

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Few terms make litigators shudder like the dreaded spoliation; and for good reason. The consequences of a company’s failure to preserve evidence that might be relevant in prospective litigation can be severe.  What many...more

EDRM - Electronic Discovery Reference Model

Don’t Get Sanctioned Like These Parties

A review of recent case law by EDRM Guardian Partner Exterro’s E-Discovery Case Law Project - Five or so years ago, legal professionals were hearing about “the end of sanctions.” Changes in the Federal Rules of Civil...more

Robins Kaplan LLP

Recall Message! Do Yourself (and Your Employer) a Favor and Sharpen Your Email Game

Robins Kaplan LLP on

This isn’t the 1990s: Email isn’t a new technology. By now, we all know that our work emails aren’t private, and most of us exercise some discretion in deciding what to “put in writing” in our business communications. We’ve...more

Kilpatrick

Court Orders Spoliation Sanctions Requiring Defendants and Former Defense Counsel To Pay Attorneys’ Fees and Costs

Kilpatrick on

In DR Distributors LLC v. 21 Century Smoking, Inc, v. CB Distributors, Inc. and Carlos Bengos, 2021 WL 185082, No. 12 CV 50324 (1/19/2021), Judge Johnston of the Northern District of Illinois, granted Plaintiff’s motion for...more

Dentons

How to Avoid Spoliation of Evidence Allegations

Dentons on

A potential pitfall in navigating a litigated, or potentially litigated claim, is not properly preserving evidence. Attorneys and parties must preserve potentially relevant evidence when they know or should know, that a claim...more

Association of Certified E-Discovery...

[Webinar] ZyLAB Re-Invents Legal Hold Notification - November 17th, 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm ET

In 2003 Judge Shira Scheindlin wrote “once a party reasonably anticipates litigation, it must suspend its routine document retention/destruction policy and put in place a 'litigation hold' to ensure the preservation of...more

Troutman Pepper

New Cases Bring Lessons on Video Surveillance Preservation

Troutman Pepper on

Video surveillance is ubiquitous today and often sought in connection with injuries or litigation. As a result, courts are increasingly presented with disputes relating to the preservation and production of surveillance...more

Proskauer - Minding Your Business

To the Victor Go the Spoliation Sanctions: Eastern District of Louisiana Exercises Inherent Power to Issue Sanctions for...

Parties should think twice before posting potential evidence on social media, as the Plaintiff in Guarisco v. Boh Brothers Construction learned recently. The Eastern District of Louisiana imposed sanctions on Plaintiff for...more

Troutman Pepper

Spoliation Rule Remains Ambiguous Despite Amendments

Troutman Pepper on

Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(e)(2), imposition of the most severe sanctions for failure to preserve relevant electronically stored information — a presumption that the information lost was unfavorable, an...more

Reveal

Is eDiscovery Existing in a Post-Sanctions World?

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Is eDiscovery Existing in a Post-Sanctions World? The short (and obvious) answer is no. Rule 37(e) isn’t going anywhere. But recent case law indicates a trend where sanctions seem to be harder to come by, which may play...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Court Sanctions Defendant for Failure to Preserve Text Messages in Copyright Infringement Suit Brought by Prince’s Estate

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This is what it sounds like, when sanctions are granted. In March 2019, a federal judge in Minnesota sanctioned Defendants for their failure to preserve text messages in a copyright infringement suit brought in part by the...more

Reveal

Deleted ESI Doesn’t Automatically Mean Sanctions: Two Recent Cases Highlight the Spoliation Thresholds in Rule 37(e)

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Two Recent Cases Highlight the Spoliation Thresholds in Rule 37(e)  - With the 2015 FRCP amendments quickly nearing a half-decade in existence, case-law continues to define how these rules are upheld in court, especially...more

White and Williams LLP

Texas Walks the Line on When the Duty to Preserve Evidence at a Fire Scene Arises

White and Williams LLP on

The extent to which a loss scene can be altered before adversaries can legitimately cry spoliation has long been a mysterious battleground in the world of subrogation. In the case of In re Xterra Constr., LLC, No....more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Text Messages Must Be Preserved

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Whether we like it or not, a reality of today’s world is that often important business is conducted by text messages. And so, when it is time to issue a litigation hold notice, you must include an instruction to preserve text...more

Kilpatrick

It’s Purple Raining Sanctions: Litigation Regarding Prince’s Estate Provides Framework for Determining When Sanctions Apply Under...

Kilpatrick on

You may have read my colleague Starling Underwood’s post on two recent Second Circuit decisions discussing sanctions for spoliation. If you have not, I encourage you to read it here. The two cases Starling addressed, one...more

McGuireWoods LLP

Data Preservation: Don't Treat Discovery Like It's 1999

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Cell phones have been around for a long time, but preserving the data they contain for discovery purposes is still often overlooked or avoided due to expense and inconvenience. Two recent decisions highlight the importance of...more

Butler Snow LLP

Think twice before filing a spoliation motion against a plaintiff in Georgia.

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Georgia courts have finally claimed the same legal standard applies to plaintiffs and defendants when courts are deciding when the duty to preserve relevant evidence arises. But the application of the standard to plaintiffs...more

White and Williams LLP

Florida Court of Appeals Holds Underlying Tort Case Must Resolve Before Third-Party Spoliation Action Can Be Litigated

White and Williams LLP on

In Amerisure Ins. Co. v. Rodriguez, 43 Fla. L. Weekly 2225 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App., Sept. 26, 2018), the Third District Court of Appeals of Florida addressed whether a third-party spoliation claim should be litigated and tried...more

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