For Key Employees ' Bad Faith, Intentional Spoliation, Court Imposes Adverse Inference and Monetary Sanctions

http://ow.ly/62kBo

This writing, appearing on the EDD Blog online, citing the ediscoverylaw.com site as the source, discusses the case of: E.I. DuPont De Nemours & Co. v. Kolon Indus., Inc., No. 3:09cv58, 2011 WL 296682 (E.D. Va. July 21, 2011).


This article outlines a case where intentional abuses of the discovery process were uncovered.  The article points out, "Despite knowledge of the relevant complaint and/or receipt of a litigation hold notice, many of defendant’s key employees deleted relevant information from their computers and email accounts. These deletions were discovered as the result of defendant’s production of several screen shots with handwritten notes that appeared to identify certain files for deletion (e.g., files were marked “Need to Delete,” “Remove All,” “Get Rid Of,” etc.). Suspicion of spoliation was also raised by the “suspiciously low document production totals” for key employees and the deposition testimony of employees “which assertedly showed that Kolon failed to instruct key employees on their preservation duties. . .""


This is a textbook example of a situation where the court is going to impose severe sanctions, for both willful and neglectful conduct.