No Adverse Inference Warranted for Lost Evidence
In Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Midcap, download file, the Delaware Supreme Court determined that the trial court erred in giving the jury a missing-evidence adverse-inference jury instruction because it failed to initially determine that the defendant had intentionally or recklessly destroyed the relevant documents. The adverse instruction was based at least in part on the testimony by the defendant that the evidence at issue "could not be located."
