Case Law: Haraburda v. Arcelor Mittal USA, Inc
Court Orders Defendants to Issue Litigation Hold Before Rule 26(f) Conference
Haraburda v. Arcelor Mittal USA, Inc., 2011 WL 2600756 (N.D. Ind. June 28, 2011). In this employment discrimination suit, the plaintiff requested the court order the defendant to preserve e-mail evidence, claiming the defendant previously deleted e-mails from the plaintiff’s account without her permission and refused to issue a litigation hold prior to the Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(f) meet and confer. The defendant argued the plaintiff’s request was premature as Rule 26(d)(1) prohibited a party from seeking discovery before the Rule 26(f) conference. Disagreeing with the defendant’s argument, the court noted Rule 26(d)(1) prohibited requesting production – not compelling preservation – and stated that ruling to the contrary would leave a party with knowledge of an intent to destroy evidence without a remedy. Accordingly, the court found the plaintiff could suffer measurable prejudice based on the suit’s heavy reliance on e-mails if evidence was destroyed and ordered the defendant to implement a litigation hold.
Commentary
Although the defendant put forth a novel argument, it failed to acknowledge the obligations each party has to proactively preserve evidence upon the reasonable anticipation of litigation. As the Sedona Conference® notes, the duty to preserve evidence “includes an obligation to identify, locate, and maintain, information that is relevant to specific, predictable, and identifiable litigation”. The Sedona Conference®, Commentary on Legal Holds: The Trigger and the Process.
However, the issue of when the duty actually arises is often a challenging one as different courts have found various triggers to be applicable. Generally, courts recognize that the “mere possibility of litigation” does not trigger the duty to preserve because litigation is “an ever-present possibility” in modern society. Cache La Poudre Feeds, LLC v. Land O' Lakes, Inc.
Recently, the District of Colorado determined that the defendant’s duty to preserve evidence triggered when the plaintiff filed a formal complaint at work (racial discrimination lawsuit), which put the defendant on notice to preserve all existing and future video that included the plaintiff. The defendant failed to do so, and the court found the plaintiff was prejudiced by the defendant’s willful destruction of video recordings. Accordingly, the court issued both mandatory and permissive adverse inference instructions as well as attorney fees relating to the spoliation motion. McCargo v. Texas Roadhouse, Inc., 2011 WL 1638992 (D. Colo. May 2, 2011). In the 2009 case, Goodman v. Praxair Services, Inc., the District of Maryland concluded that the defendant’s duty to preserve triggered following receipt of a letter informing the defendant the plaintiff had consulted attorneys. Further, a ruling from the Southern District of New York found the duty to preserve arose no later than the lawsuit’s filing. Green v. McClendon.
As demonstrated by the sampling of cases above (which by no means present an exhaustive list of possibilities), it is no wonder parties are confused as to when the duty to preserve arises. It is better for parties to be safe than sorry by implementing a written legal hold sooner rather than later if litigation appears to be on the horizon. To increase defensibility, parties should maintain detailed notes of the preservation protocol followed, which includes when the hold was issued, what details were included in the hold, to whom the hold was issued and the efforts taken to continually monitor compliance.