Here’s one that will light your fire.
Martinez v. Triple S Props., No. 6:17-03195-CV-RK, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 166357 (W.D. Mo. Sep. 27, 2018) is a proposed class action against Triple S Properties (“Defendant), an owner of residential rental properties. The Plaintiffs alleged in a motion for negative inference brought under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37, that Defendant intentionally burned documents relevant to the suit after it was filed to prevent disclosure of information about the potential class.
In the suit, the Plaintiffs allege that the Defendant violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) because it failed to give FCRA-required disclosures to Plaintiffs that it took adverse action against them based on the content of the credit reports it received from May 2012 to May 2017. The documents allegedly burned included lease applications and credit reports that the Plaintiffs argued were necessary to identify class members and prove their class allegations.
Defendant did not deny that relevant documents were burned but argued that a negative inference was not warranted because the documents were destroyed in the normal course of business before the lawsuit began, and there was no bad faith or intentional destruction of evidence. Defendant also argued that Plaintiffs failed to show that they were prejudiced by the destruction of evidence.
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