Calixto v. Watson Bowman Acme Corp.

In a breach of contract case, Plaintiff filed a motion to compel defendant to restore and search backup tapes containing deleted emails. Plaintiff also sought sanctions for alleged spoliation, and motioned for letters of request from foreign countries.

The Court granted Plaintiff’s motion to compel in part and denied it in part. Because Defendant established that restoring the backup tapes would result in an undue burden, and because Plaintiff did not object to electronically stored information produced from March 31, 2005 and onward, the Court held that the backup tapes from that date would contain largely duplicative information. However, the Court held the December 2004 backup tape would not contain duplicative information and required Defendant to reconfigure the tape. The Court also denied Plaintiff’s request for spoliation sanctions, as Plaintiff could not prove the September 9, 2004 letter triggered a duty to implement a litigation hold, and Plaintiff failed to demonstrate bad faith in the deletion of the emails even if a duty were triggered. Moreover, based on comity and the potential for duplicative evidence, the Court denied Plaintiff’s motion for letters of request from foreign countries.

Motion to Compel Defendant to Remedy Spoliation of Documents (Doc. 86) 

Response to Motion to Compel (Doc. 90) 

Order on Motion to Compel (Doc. 136)