Sosa v. Carnival Corp.

The court addressed the defendant’s motion to reconsider the court’s previous 50-page order on plaintiff’s motion. See Sosa v. Carnival Corp., No. 18-20957-CIV, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 204933 (S.D. Fla. Dec. 4, 2018). The court clarified that the previous order did not order any sanctions and that the court found that the defendant had acted to deprive the plaintiff of the use of ESI. The defendant also challenged the prior order challenging the court’s determination that the jury should determine whether the defendant has acted to deprive the plaintiff of the use of the lost ESI (television video of a slip and fall event.) Finally, the defendant challenged the court’s determination that the defendant did not take reasonable steps to preserve the lost video footage.

The court noted that the court made no finding that defendant acted with an intent to deprive the opposition of the use of ESI. The court it specifically left that issue for the jury depending on the plaintiff’ selection. The court next rejected defendant’s claim that referring the intent issue to the jury was erroneous of contrary to law. The court next recited record evidence that the court determined demonstrated the defendant’s failure to take reasonable steps to preserve the lost ESI noting that defendant’s negligence must be weighed on a sliding scale based on a party’s relative resources and litigation experience. The court noted that Carnival operates 29 cruise ships from 23 ports and had been named in hundreds of lawsuits in the district. Carnival’s litigation representative responsible for ESI compliance testifies for Carnival at trials and deposition once a week.

Plaintiff’s Motion for Sanctions Due to Spoliation of Evidence (Doc. 38)

Defendant’s Response to Plaintiff’s Motion for Spoliation Sanctions (Doc. 47)

Plaintiff’s Reply to Response to Motion for Spoliation Sanctions (Doc. 49)

Order (Doc. 82)