Justice Jack Battaglia
Ware allegedly sustained personal injuries when she tripped and fell on premises owned by Atlantic Towers and Vintage Real Estate. SLF Marble & Granite, and Ware argued they were entitled to imposition of sanctions against Atlantic and Vintage for their spoliation of a video surveillance tape. SLF demanded that Atlantic and Vintage produce copies of all videos showing Ware. Defendants responded they searched for, but were unable to locate any video that may have existed regarding the subject accident. The court found evidence submitted by the parties sufficiently established defendants failed to preserve video surveillance footage by recording it on DVD or CD when they were on notice of a credible probability they would be involved in litigation resulting from Ware's accident. It also found SLF's principal would be precluded by the best evidence rule from testifying about the contents of the video, hence, SLF showed it was deprived of key evidence in support of its defense. Thus, as Atlantic and Vintage failed to offer an adequate explanation regarding their failure to preserve the footage, as well as their history of providing belated and evasive disclosure responses, SLF established that an order striking Atlantic's and Vintage's cross-claims against it was warranted.
