Judge Harold Baer
Slovin was hurt after falling in a Target store. Through counsel she unsuccessfully sought a full video of the incident for 18 months. Only after an April 5, 2012, order did Target produce three brief excerpts, totalling two minutes. On May 7, the court ordered Target to produce all of the subject video. Target initially indicated it would produce an affidavit by Murphy, the employee who retained the excerpted footage. However, it later advised that Murphy was no longer employed. Slovin later obtained Murphys affidavit stating that he always retained, as required by Target, 40 to 60 minutes of video footage. Partly granting Slovin sanctions for spoliation, the court granted her an adverse inference charge. Targets duty to preserve evidence was beyond peradventure as it was aware that the video of Slovins fall was likely relevant in future litigation. Targets negligence in failing to preserve, and editing, the video showed its culpability. The court [could not] help but wonder as to the facts with regards to Murphys departure and if his recollections played a role in his discharge. Further, even if Target initially preserved only two minutes of video, its later decision to destroy the rest of the video showed, at a minimum, gross negligence.
