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Case 1:15-cv-07433-LAP Document 1332-1 Filed 01/08/24 Page 23 of 42
2016, the Court entered an Order adopting Plaintiff's expanded request and methodology. All
accessible email accounts and devices, including deleted files and emails, were searched — again
— at significant expense. Again, no additional non-privileged responsive documents were
located. There is no non-compliance and no basis for any sanctions, let alone the draconian
sanction of an adverse inference.
a. Plaintiff Fails to Identify or Prove the Factors Required for Sanctions
Based on Alleged Violation of a Court Order
Absent from Plaintiff's motion is the actual legal standard required for imposition of
sanctions, and certainly no argument or citation exist in this case to carry the burden of
establishing the factors. In light of the fact that Ms. Maxwell has complied, Plaintiff has failed to
demonstrate the minimum hurdle for any sanction. Thus, the factors are not addressed here, nor
can they be addressed on Reply. What is clear is that the sanction of an adverse inference is not
identified as a sanction that should or could be considered under the rules concerning the failure
to comply with a Court Order. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(b)(2)(A).
b. Controlling Law Prohibits an Adverse Inference Instruction
An adverse inference instruction is considered an “extreme sanction” that “should not be
given lightly.” Zubulake v. UBS Warburg LLC, 220 F.R.D. 212, 220 (S.D.N.Y. 2003). More
importantly Plaintiff completely ignores the 2015 changes to Fed. R. Civ. P 37(e)(2), which now
permits an adverse inference instruction only when the court finds that a spoliating party
purposefully and willfully destroys evidence and that party “acted with the intent to deprive
another party of the information's use in the litigation.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(e)(2). The new Rule
37 “rejects cases such as Residential Funding Corp. v. DeGeorge Financial Corp., 306 F.3d 99
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| Filename | Giuffre_Maxwell_Batch7_p00024.png |
| File Size | 282.3 KB |
| OCR Confidence | 94.4% |
| Has Readable Text | Yes |
| Text Length | 1,939 characters |
| Indexed | 2026-02-04 12:47:12.197355 |