In litigation, “spoliation of evidence” occurs when a litigant, intentionally or negligently, disposes of crucial items of evidence before their adversary has an opportunity to inspect them. See generally New York Pattern Jury Instructions (PJI) 1:77; New York Motions in Limine § 9:24 (2024 ed.). As explained by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the…
Read More Spoliation of Evidence in New York Civil LitigationIn Wagman v Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York Presbyterian, No. 160709/21, 2022-05622, 771, M-3778, 2023 N.Y. Slip Op. 05214, 2023 WL 6626886 (N.Y.A.D. 1 Dept., Oct. 12, 2023), the court unanimously affirmed the lower court’s Order granting plaintiff’s motion, pursuant to CPLR 3126, to strike defendants’ answer for spoliation of evidence. In this…
Read More Failure to Preserve Slip/Fall Video Results in Stricken AnswerIn Cruz v. G-Star Inc. et al, 17-CV-7685, 2019 WL 2521299 (S.D.N.Y. June 19, 2019), an employment discrimination case involving (inter alia) allegations of sexual harassment, the court imposed sanctions under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(e) on defendants for engaging in spoliation of evidence (electronically-stored information, or ESI). From the decision: Here, the circumstances…
Read More Court Imposes Spoliation Sanctions in Sexual Harassment CaseIn Simons v. Petrarch LLC and Hicham Aboutaam, 2017 NY Slip Op 30457(U) (NY Sup. Ct. NY Cty. March 1, 2017) (J. Hagler), a sexual harassment case, the court applied spoliation sanctions on plaintiff. This case is instructive as to the obligations of litigants generally, and in sexual harassment cases in particular, to preserve evidence.…
Read More Sexual Harassment Plaintiff Hit With Spoliation SanctionsIn Pearce v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc., No. 14 CIV. 6836, 2016 WL 4540832 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 30, 2016), the court denied defendant’s summary judgment motion on plaintiff’s personal injury / slip-and-fall claim. In sum, plaintiff claimed that they were injured when they slipped on a wet substance while in defendant’s store. As explained by the court,…
Read More Slip/Fall Case Continues; Destruction of Video Leads to Inference of Constructive NoticeIn Brown v. Addison Hall Owners Corp., No. 16744, 2016 WL 237527 (N.Y. App. Div. Jan. 21, 2016), the Appellate Division, First Department affirmed the denial of summary judgment to defendants on plaintiff’s personal injury premises liability (slip/fall) claim. From the decision: In this action alleging a slip and fall on a wet floor inside…
Read More Decision: Slip/Fall Case Survives Summary Judgment; No Evidence that Defendants Mopped on Day of AccidentIn Biniachvili v. Yeshivat Shaare Torah, Inc., the Appellate Division, Second Department affirmed summary judgment for plaintiffs in their personal injury case due to the defendant’s disposal of a grate that allegedly caused injury. This, the court held, amounted to spoliation of evidence. The facts: On May 22, 2009, the infant plaintiffs …, along with approximately…
Read More Plaintiffs Awarded Summary Judgment Due to Evidence Spoliation in Personal Injury CaseRecently an appellate court affirmed a trial court’s denial of a defendant’s motion for spoliation sanctions in a bicycle-related personal injury action. Here are the facts in Carlos v. Castillo, decided February 27, 2014: On January 26, 2009, plaintiff commenced this action seeking damages for injuries sustained on September 5, 2008, when, while riding a…
Read More Disposal of Bicycle Involved in Accident Did Not Give Rise to Spoliation SanctionsIn Malouf v. Equinox Holdings, Inc., the Appellate Division, First Department affirmed the lower court’s granting of (1) plaintiff’s motion “for spoliation sanctions to the extent of precluding defendant from arguing at trial that the treadmill plaintiff was using at the time of her accident was operating properly or was free from defects”, and (2) third-party defendant Life…
Read More Failure to Preserve Allegedly Defective Treadmill Results in Spoliation Sanctions Against EquinoxIn Strong v. City of New York, the Appellate Division, First Department recently held that sanctions were appropriate in light of the NYPD’s deletion of audio recordings preceding a car accident allegedly initiated by an NYPD driver. Plaintiff and others were injured when an NYPD vehicle “collided with a vehicle operated by defendant Geraldo Falcon,…
Read More Deletion of Radio Transmissions Results in Sanctions in NYPD Car Accident Case