The Honorable Lee H. Rosenthal, one of the drafters of the ediscovery federal amendments, has written a noteworthy ediscovery decision focused on an analysis of the spoliation of ESI. She utilizes the framework of the Pension Comm. decision in finding sanctions for deleting e-mail. She states:
Spoliation of evidence--particularly of electronically stored information--has assumed a level of importance in litigation that raises grave concerns. Spoliation allegations and sanctions motions distract from the merits of a case, add costs to discovery, and delay resolution. The frequency of spoliation allegations may lead to decisions about preservation based more on fear of potential future sanctions than on reasonable need for information. Much of the recent case law on sanctions for spoliation has focused on failures by litigants and their lawyers to take adequate steps to preserve and collect information in discovery. n1 The spoliation allegations in the present case are different. They are allegations of willful misconduct: the intentional destruction of emails and other electronic information at a time when they were known to be relevant to anticipated or pending litigation. The alleged spoliators are the plaintiffs in an earlier-filed, related case and the defendants in this case. The allegations include that these parties--referred to in this opinion as the defendants--concealed and delayed providing information in discovery that would have revealed their spoliation. The case law recognizes that such conduct is harmful in ways that extend beyond the parties' interests and can justify severe sanctions. . . . (To continue reading and to obtain a copy of the decision Click here).
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