In Océ North America v. MCS Servs., 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 141209 (D. Md. 2011), the court held that an employee wiping a hard drive that contained child pornography was a violation of the company's discovery obligations.
Océ was involved in a lawsuit and was under a preservation order. The company had sent e-mails to every employee ordering them not to delete any information from their computers. One employee, however, used software to remove data from his computer. Océ argued that the employee's intent was to delete child pornography on the hard drive - as opposed to company data - and that removing data possibly subject to discovery was not done with a culpable state of mind required for sanctions.
The court found that the employee's negligent conduct would satisfy the culpability element of spoliation, subjecting Océ to possible sanctions.
0 comments:
Post a Comment