Many of our columns discussed spoliation of evidence principles and identified a decisive “spoliator beware” trend showing how hazardous the consequences may be when litigants, attorneys or experts allow non-preservation, destruction, loss or alteration of the “crown jewels” (i.e., the actual product, parts or components involved in an accident).[1]� The case law revealed that courts increasingly have imposed a slew of sanctions including, where appropriate, the dismissal of a claim or defense.
One might have thought that by now the array of sanctions imposed for not only intentional misbehavior but also negligent or inadvertent loss of the “crown jewels” would be arresting enough so that spoliating acts or omissions would wane. Plaintiffs’ lawyers already should have built into their checklists instructional and operational safeguards to prevent their clients, experts or employees from spoliating the evidence even before filing the lawsuit. Institutional defendants such as rental car companies, landlords, insurers and others who wind up with custody of the accident parts should by now have implemented steps that minimize prejudice to adverse litigants from the danger of loss of the “crown jewels.” Reasonable steps to that end certainly can be formulated and wholesome protective safeguards can be implemented.
