“Litigation hold” is a notice requiring the preservation of all data that may relate to a claim or lawsuit. “Spoliation” is the loss or destruction of evidence relative to a legal proceeding.
The failure to send or implement a “litigation hold” may result in loss of evidence resulting in a claim of “spoliation” – the sanctions for which run the gamut from an adverse inference charge that the lost evidence was damaging in nature or, in the extreme, to the striking of a pleading. Continue reading