Brookshire Bros., Ltd. v. Aldridge

In this case, the Supreme Court articulated with greater clarity the standards governing whether an act of spoliation has occurred and the limits of a trial court’s discretion to impose certain remedies upon a finding of spoliation. In the underlying slip-and-fall premises-liability case, the defendant-premises owner retained a portion of surveillance video footage of the plaintiff’s fall but allowed additional footage to be automatically erased. The trial court submitted a spoliation instruction to the jury and allowed the jury to decide whether spoliation occurred. The jury rendered a verdict in favor of the plaintiff. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the trial court abused its discretion in imposing the severe sanction of a spoliation instruction. Remanded for a new trial. View "Brookshire Bros., Ltd. v. Aldridge" on Justia Law