Spoliation

Spoliation is the destruction, loss or significant alteration of evidence that should have been preserved for a lawsuit. A court may punish spoliation with sanctions, including an instruction telling the jury it may assume the lost evidence would have hurt the party that destroyed it.

Origin

The word comes from the Latin spoliatio, meaning plundering, and the adverse-inference idea has deep roots in English common law. Modern courts and rules, including the federal rule on electronically stored information, set out when the duty to preserve begins and what remedies are allowed.

Significance in Asbestos Context

In asbestos cases, spoliation can arise on both sides. Plaintiffs have accused companies of discarding or failing to keep records about products, dust studies or worker health. Defendants sometimes raise spoliation when a product sample, a work site or tissue was not preserved after a lawsuit was expected. Tissue is especially important: hospitals keep pathology slides and paraffin blocks only for a limited time, and those samples may later be needed to confirm a mesothelioma diagnosis or measure fiber burden. The duty to preserve generally begins when a party reasonably anticipates litigation, so a family considering a claim should act early to keep records, tissue and physical items. The sanctions and the level of fault required vary by court and state.

Example Sentence

After the plant's medical files were shredded during the lawsuit, the judge gave the jury a spoliation instruction allowing it to infer the files would have favored the plaintiff.

Related Terms

Chain of Custody, Paraffin Block, Pathology Report, Discovery, Fraudulent Concealment, Jury Instruction

Notes

• Ask the hospital in writing to preserve pathology slides and tissue blocks; your lawyer can help with the request.
• Do not throw away old work clothes, products, records or photographs that may relate to exposure.
• Keep paper and electronic records about the illness and its costs.