I have always had an interest in spoliation of evidence.  Spoliation is the negligent or intentional destruction or alteration of evidence or the failure to preserve evidence for relevant to future, and sometimes even pending, litigation.  This is not an issue we see often in car accident cases but we do see it in truck accident and product liability cases and, to a less extent in medical malpractice claims.

The Maryland Court of Appeals took a look at this issue in Cumberland Insurance Group v. Delmarva Power. This case involved the treatment of spoliation of evidence when the physical object destroyed is itself the subject of the case.  The context is a little boring.  This is a battle between an insurance company and a utility company so, in my world, this is a bad guy on bad guy battle. The destruction here was also negligent which is a lot less sexy than willful destruction.

Anyway, the claim centered on a house fire of a home insured by Cumberland Insurance Group. After the fire, two of Cumberland’s experts inspected the house, as well as the meter and meter box that were removed from the scene by the Fire Marshal. Based on its experts’ inspections, Cumberland believed the meter and meter box were the source of the fire and sought a subrogation claim against Delmarva Power, the electric company for the property. Cumberland received an estimate for demolition of the property and issued a check to the homeowner that appeared to include the cost of demolition. Although Cumberland sent Delmarva notice that Cumberland intended to file a claim against Delmarva for subrogation, the notification did not include information regarding the schedule for demolition. Subsequently, Delmarva did not send any personnel to inspect the property before demolition occurred, less than sixty days after the fire.

SOURCE: Maryland Injury Lawsuit Information Center – Read entire story here.

Related posts:

What Damages Are Recoverable from Car Accidents? Law prof who alleged injury from a colleague’s shoulder squeeze is allowed to pursue assault suit Understanding Workers Compensation in Colorado Marriage Annulments Court Recognises Marriage is Legally Invalid