Spoliation
Sign O’ the Times: Pop Music and Spoliation Allegations
Spoliation is a word that strikes fear into the hearts of corporate legal professionals.
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…
Preserved 91-minute video sufficient to capture ‘horrific storm’
In this claim for injuries sustained during a boat cruise, the court began its opinion by noting that “a picture is worth a thousand words.”…
Defendants deleted evidence before and after legal hold, then misrepresented its availability
In this employment case, the magistrate imposed monetary sanctions and recommended an adverse inference jury instruction for the defendants’ spoliation of electronically stored information (ESI).…
Defendant failed to establish that unpreserved evidence was irretrievably lost
In this contract dispute, the court denied the defendant’s motion for spoliation sanctions, finding that it had not conclusively established that the evidence in question…
Appellate court reverses exclusion of evidence about spoliation, remands
We’ve previously written about GN Netcom, Inc. v. Plantronics, Inc. — a long-running antitrust matter involving egregious spoliation of emails — but the saga isn’t…
Two defendants admitted to having ‘wiped and discarded’ their phones without preserving text messages
In this case involving the alleged infringement of music created by the late artist Prince, the court granted in part the plaintiffs’ motion for sanctions…
Court glances past issue of lost passwords for protected documents
In this employment discrimination case, the court denied the plaintiff’s motions for sanctions involving both paper records and ESI. It found that the plaintiff failed…
Party ‘repeatedly and consistently [took] knowing and intentional action to destroy evidence’
In this case alleging breach of contract and trade secret theft, the North Carolina Business Court granted the plaintiff a preliminary injunction after the defendant…
Court ‘will not tolerate the destruction or concealment of evidence’
In this case seeking unpaid overtime wages, the court previously imposed sanctions against the defendants for their discovery abuses. This order denied their motion to…
Robust Preservation Practices
Without rigorous preservation of discoverable data, there can be no ediscovery. What’s more, investing in your approach to data preservation can have a significant impact…
Creating a Litigation Response Plan
Without a clear, strategic litigation readiness and response plan, you run more than the risk of scrambling in a panic to react to a threat.…