|
Tennessee has long had a doctrine of
spoliation of evidence which allows the trial court to draw negative inferences
or even provide dismissal against a party who destroys evidence. Historically, Tennessee courts have required
the presence of actual intentional misconduct to invoke the doctrine of
spoliation of evidence particularly when providing the remedy of a negative
inference or dismissal. The Tennessee
Supreme Court in Lea Ann Tatham v.
Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc., No. W2013-02604-SC-R11-CV, 2015 WL 6688035
(Tenn. 2015)
dealt with an apparent conflict between the case law and Rule 34A.02 of the
Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure that was adopted on July 1, 2006. The full text of Rule 34A.02 provides as
follows:
Rule 37 sanctions may be imposed upon a party or an agent of a party who
discards, destroys, mutilates, alters, or conceals evidence.
The question before the Tennessee Supreme
Court in Lea Ann Tatham was whether
Tennessee Courts should continue to require an intentional misconduct
prerequisite for a trial court to impose sanctions for spoliation of
evidence. The Tennessee Supreme Court
decided this issue and expressed the desire to provide a uniform standard on
this issue. The Court found that “intentional
misconduct is not a prerequisite for a trial court to impose sanctions for the
spoliation of evidence, including that of a negative inference.” Id. at 8. The Court adopted a specific analysis
required by Tennessee trial courts to determine whether sanctions are
appropriate in a spoliation of evidence situation. The new test is a “totality of the
circumstances” test, however, intentional misconduct is clearly no longer an
absolute perquisite. Intentional
misconduct is simply one of the factors to be considered by the trial
court.
The Tennessee Supreme Court detailed certain
factors that are relevant to a trial court’s consideration of whether sanctions
are appropriate in the context of spoliation for evidence. These include the following factors:
(1) the culpability of the spoliating party in causing...
|