In Chepilko v. Henry, the Southern District of New York denied plaintiff’s motion for spoliation sanctions, finding that a public records request and a civilian complaint did not trigger defendants’ duty to preserve electronic evidence. In the ruling, Magistrate Judge Stewart D. Aaron analyzed when one’s obligation to preserve camera footage “in anticipation of
Prior posts have discussed sanctions generally, as well as decisions analyzing the particulars of the operative rules (see November 2024 and December 2023 posts), but today’s blog discusses considerations for when, during a litigation, is the proper time to file a spoliation motion.
District Judge Iain Johnston’s[1] decision in Groves, Inc. v R.C. Bremer
Pending in the Southern District of Ohio, Safelite Group, Inc., v Nathaniel Lockridge et. al. reminds counsel of the importance of being active in the preservation process and reminds litigants of the importance of preserving text messages.
Background
Nationwide auto glass repair and replacement provider Safelite Group, Inc. employed defendant Nathaniel Lockridge, and in 2020
Facts
In Miramontes v. Peraton Inc., an employment discrimination case, plaintiff moved for sanctions against defendant for its failure to preserve text messages and a skills assessment related to plaintiff’s performance. Plaintiff – a senior supply chain business partner manager – was a 27-year employee of Prospecta when the company was acquired by defendant
In litigation, allowing a client to handle the process of collecting its electronic discovery without adequate attorney oversight of quality control validation can lead to serious trouble for all concerned. Courts throughout the country have repeatedly held that attorneys have professional and ethical duties to ensure the adequacy of their clients’ actions in identifying, preserving
In Seattle Tunnel Partners v. Great Lakes Reinsurance (UK) PLC, __ P.3d __ (Wash. Ct. App. Mar. 27, 2023), the Washington Court of Appeals, Division 1, discusses the evolution of Washington case law on spoliation of evidence and details the circumstances justifying the imposition of spoliation sanctions in the jurisdiction. Interestingly, the parameters
The Court’s statutory and inherent authority to impose sanctions for eDiscovery spoliation remains important for the administration of justice and judicial case management. However, sanctions a court imposes to remediate discovery misconduct when a party fails to preserve potentially relevant information and that failure is shown to have been an intentional act to deprive the
For anyone with a few hours to spare, I highly recommend reading the various decisions authored by District Court Judge Iain Johnston of the Northern District of Illinois relating to discovery failures in the DR Distributors case. DR Distributors, LLC v. Century 21 Smoking, Inc., 513 F. Supp.3d 839 (ND Ill., 2021). Indeed, the case
A case out of the District of Minnesota recently addressed whether a party can be compelled to produce text messages from an employee’s personal mobile device when that party has a bring your own device (BYOD) policy in place. See In re Pork Antitrust Litig., 2022 WL 972401 (D. Minn. 2022).
This class
In Abbott Laboratories, et al., v Adelphia Supply USA (EDNY May 2, 2019), Plaintiffs filed a motion for case-ending sanctions against defendants H&H Wholesale Services, Inc., Howard Goldman, and Lori Goldman (for purposes of this blog, “Defendants”). The parties submitted briefing and Magistrate Judge Bloom held oral argument. On May 2, 2019, Judge Bloom