During a breach of contract case in federal court, the defendant issued discovery requests to the plaintiff, asking for emails and documents relevant to the lawsuit. The plaintiff stated they had provided all the requested files. Later, the defendant discovered that certain emails beneficial to their case were intentionally deleted by the plaintiff after the lawsuit was filed. The plaintiff argues the deleted emails were not critical and the case can proceed without them. What would a federal court most likely do in response to this conduct?
Prohibit the defendant from introducing statements about the deleted emails at trial.
Issue a monetary penalty against the plaintiff without additional sanctions.
Take no further action because the plaintiff claims the emails were not important to the case.
Impose an instruction to the jury that they may consider the deleted emails unfavorable to the plaintiff's position.
Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(e), courts address electronically stored information (ESI) that is lost because a party failed to preserve it. If the loss was intentional and aimed at depriving another party of the evidence, the court can impose serious sanctions. These sanctions include allowing the jury to assume the lost evidence was unfavorable, imposing penalties, or dismissing claims or defenses when severe misconduct is proven. In this case, the deliberate deletion of emails post-litigation strongly supports an adverse inference sanction or comparable remedy, as it directly undermines the fairness of the proceedings. A monetary fine alone is insufficient to address intentional misconduct and mitigate its prejudicial impact.
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