duty to preserve
What Is a Trigger Event?
A trigger event occurs when a party can reasonably anticipate litigation; it initiates the duty to preserve potentially relevant evidence.
No reasonable anticipation of litigation given longstanding relationship and lack of communication about incident
In this breach of contract case, the court denied the plaintiffs’ motion for sanctions, finding that the defendants were under no duty to preserve evidence…
Court declines sanctions where defendant deleted emails a decade before lawsuit
In this product liability case, the court denied spoliation sanctions because the defendant deleted ESI a decade before the plaintiffs filed suit.
‘So sue me’ not enough to trigger duty to preserve evidence
In this breach of contract case, the court denied sanctions, finding that the plaintiffs destroyed evidence before any duty to preserve attached.
Defendant’s ‘plausible, good-faith explanation’ of lost evidence proves prejudice
The court imposed monetary sanctions under FRCP 37 for the plaintiff’s unintentional spoliation of text messages, which prejudiced the defendant.
Litigant’s attempt to ‘take advantage of’ evidence it spoliated proves its bad faith
Decker v. Target Corp. In this personal injury claim, the court granted harsh sanctions for the defendant’s bad faith spoliation of evidence.This case began with…