Superior Court Affirms Defense Verdict, No Adverse Spoliation Inference Where Lost Video Did Not Capture Incident or Contain Relevant Evidence

The plaintiff tripped and fell on a floor mat near the beverage area in the defendant’s store. After the incident, a store employee reviewed surveillance footage from the day of the incident, but was unable to observe the plaintiff’s fall since the area was not covered by the store’s cameras. 

The plaintiff commenced a lawsuit and served discovery requests on the defendant, seeking the production of the video surveillance footage from the date of the incident. In its discovery responses, the defendant admitted that it accidently failed to preserve the video footage. The plaintiff filed a motion for an adverse inference instruction, which the trial court denied at trial. The jury ultimately returned a verdict in favor of the defendant. The plaintiff appealed, arguing that she was entitled to a new trial.

The Superior Court held that there was no basis to find spoliation since the plaintiff failed to demonstrate that the video contained relevant evidence, reasoning there was no camera filming the area where the incident occurred and the video did not capture the incident. The court also reasoned that the record contained no suggestion that the video contained any other relevant evidence. The court also held that, even assuming spoliation did occur, the plaintiff was not entitled to an adverse inference instruction. 

The court reasoned that the record supported the trial court’s finding that the defendant’s failure to preserve the video was the result of confusion and inadvertence, not bad faith. The court also reasoned that the plaintiff failed to establish that she was prejudiced by the loss of the video. 

The Superior Court affirmed the judgment entered in favor of the defendant.
 

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