A recent spoliation sanctions decision from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania shows that reasonableness, not perfection, is the standard with respect to document preservation obligations. That decision, by U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, found that an insurance company’s automated deletion of a key document pertaining to a notice of the termination of a written insurance policy four days after it received a claim on that policy did not constitute spoliation.
The case, Mead v. Travelers Indemnity Co. of Connecticut, No. 14-2695, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 167912 (Dec. 4, 2014), involved an insurance company’s denial of coverage for a burned-down condominium. Plaintiffs Andrea Mead and William Danowski held an insurance policy from Travelers Indemnity Co. of Connecticut Inc. on their Washington, D.C., condominium up until Oct. 28, 2012, when Travelers canceled that policy for failure to pay the premium. Local law required Travelers to send a “notice of intent to cancel” the policy to the plaintiffs’ insurance broker at least five days before cancellation, and failure to do so extends the policy.
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