by KPMLAW | Apr 25, 2016 | KPMBlog, News, Uncategorized, Updates
Written by Bryan Snyder, Esq. Edited by Chip Kalbaugh, Esq. Recently, the Supreme Court of Virginia was provided the opportunity to reconsider its position on whether or not it recognizes an independent claim for spoliation of evidence. Spoliation of evidence is typically defined as the intentional, reckless, or negligent withholding, hiding, altering, fabricating, or destroying of evidence relevant to a legal proceeding. Initially, the issue arose from a workers’ compensation case when Steve E. Johnson, an employee of Southern States Cooperative Inc. was badly burned by a space heater while working in a warehouse in Henrico County. His injuries occurred when his clothes were ignited as he attempted to start a propane heater on a cold February morning in 2013. Johnson pursued a workers’ compensation claim for both medical damages and lost wages. He claimed that the space heater was a product normally sold by Southern States Cooperative. In addition to his workers’ compensation claim, Johnson also intended to seek recovery on a possible product defect claim, and requested that Southern States preserve the propane heater as evidence. Later, when Johnson’s lawyers and experts requested to examine the heater, they learned that Southern States had thrown it away. In response, Johnson’s lawyers filed a $7.5 million lawsuit for spoliation of evidence arguing that Southern States “negligently interfered with Johnson’s right to pursue a products liability suit.” The elements of a claim for spoliation of evidence are: (1) pending or probable litigation involving the plaintiff; (2) knowledge on part of the defendant that litigation exists or is probable; (3) willful destruction of evidence by the defendant designed to disrupt plaintiff’s...
