Deleted or destroyed evidence can affect a California lawsuit when the material was relevant to pending litigation or litigation that was reasonably foreseeable. California courts refer to the destruction, significant alteration, or failure to preserve relevant evidence as spoliation. The legal response depends on facts such as when the preservation duty arose, whether the loss was intentional or negligent, whether another copy exists, and how much prejudice the loss caused.
Possible remedies can include monetary sanctions, issue sanctions, evidence sanctions, adverse evidentiary inferences, and, in severe cases, terminating sanctions. California law also provides limited protection for electronically stored information lost through the routine, good-faith operation of an electronic information system, but that protection does not erase an existing duty to preserve discoverable information.
The Myers Law Group represents clients in California civil litigation matters and can evaluate disputes involving deleted emails, text messages, surveillance footage, business records, electronic files, metadata, and physical evidence.
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What Counts as Spoliation of Evidence in California?
Spoliation of evidence in California generally refers to destroying or materially altering evidence, or failing to preserve evidence for another party’s use in pending or reasonably foreseeable litigation.
Potential evidence can include:
- Emails and attachments
- Text messages
- Workplace chat messages
- Surveillance footage
- Photographs and videos
- Contracts and contract drafts
- Personnel files
- Payroll and timekeeping records
- Accounting records
- Computer files and metadata
- Cloud storage records and version histories
- Mobile-device data
- Physical objects connected to the dispute
A missing record does not automatically establish misconduct.
For example, a business may use a surveillance system that routinely overwrites footage after a set period. If footage was overwritten before litigation was reasonably foreseeable, that circumstance can be treated differently from footage that was deleted after a party knew the material was relevant to probable litigation.
California courts examine the timing of the loss, the preservation duty, the reason for the loss, the relevance of the missing material, and the effect on the other party.
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When Does the Duty to Preserve Evidence Begin in California?
The duty to preserve evidence in California can arise before a lawsuit is filed. A published California Court of Appeal decision, Victor Valley Union High School District v. Superior Court, explains that the duty can arise when a party is objectively aware that the evidence is relevant to future litigation that is reasonably foreseeable.
Reasonably foreseeable litigation means more than a remote possibility. The court described the standard as litigation that is probable or likely to arise from a dispute or incident.
That distinction matters.
Suppose a company receives a detailed written complaint about a serious dispute and the surrounding facts make litigation probable. If relevant emails, messages, video, or business records are scheduled for automatic deletion, the company may need to suspend normal deletion practices and preserve material connected to the anticipated case.
The same principle can apply to an individual. If a person knows that litigation is probable and has relevant text messages, photographs, documents, or device data, deleting or altering those materials can create a preservation dispute.
A preservation duty is fact-specific. The date a complaint was made, the language used, communications between the parties, attorney involvement, prior demands, and the nature of the dispute can affect the analysis.
What Can a California Court Do When Evidence Is Deleted?
California courts can use discovery sanctions and evidentiary remedies when deleted evidence creates a litigation problem. The available remedy depends on the legal authority that applies to the discovery misconduct and the facts before the court.
Potential sanctions can include:
- Monetary sanctions: Payment of reasonable expenses, including attorney fees, when authorized by the applicable discovery rules.
- Issue sanctions: An order treating designated facts as established or limiting a party’s ability to support or oppose certain claims or defenses.
- Evidence sanctions: An order preventing a party from introducing designated evidence.
- Terminating sanctions: Orders that can strike pleadings, dismiss all or part of an action, stay proceedings until a discovery order is obeyed, or enter a default judgment when legally justified.
- Contempt sanctions: A court can treat qualifying misuse of the discovery process as contempt when the governing law permits that remedy.
Terminating sanctions are among the most severe remedies. California decisions caution that sanctions should address the discovery abuse and resulting prejudice rather than serve only as punishment. Courts may examine whether a lesser sanction can protect the fairness of the case.
A deleted file does not automatically decide a lawsuit. The court looks at why the evidence disappeared, whether it should have been preserved, and what effect the loss had on the case.
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Can a Jury Be Told That Someone Destroyed Evidence?
A California jury may be allowed to consider willful suppression of evidence when deciding what inferences to draw from the facts.
California Evidence Code section 413 allows the trier of fact to consider a party’s willful suppression of evidence. This does not mean that every missing email, deleted text, failed hard drive, or overwritten video supports an adverse inference.
The court may examine questions such as:
- Was the evidence intentionally destroyed or suppressed?
- Was the evidence relevant to the dispute?
- Did a duty to preserve the evidence exist?
- Was litigation already pending or reasonably foreseeable?
- Had a preservation notice, discovery request, subpoena, or court order been received?
- Can the information be recovered from another source?
- Did the loss impair another party’s ability to prove or defend a claim?
Intent and prejudice can affect the remedy. A device that fails unexpectedly can present a different record from deliberate deletion after a preservation obligation arose.
Deleted Emails, Text Messages, and Other Electronic Evidence
Deleted electronic evidence can create special problems because digital information may be overwritten through automated systems.
Businesses may use systems that delete old emails, workplace messages, security footage, backup files, or cloud records after a fixed period. Phones and applications can also overwrite or remove stored data.
California Code of Civil Procedure section 2023.030 includes a limited safe-harbor rule for electronically stored information lost, damaged, altered, or overwritten through the routine, good-faith operation of an electronic information system. The statute also states that this protection does not alter any duty to preserve discoverable information.
Once a preservation duty exists, reasonable steps may include:
- Suspending automatic deletion settings that affect relevant data
- Preserving relevant email accounts
- Saving workplace messages and collaboration-platform records
- Exporting relevant text-message conversations
- Preserving computers and mobile devices
- Retaining surveillance footage
- Saving cloud files and version histories
- Preserving payroll, personnel, accounting, or business-system records
- Documenting retention settings and preservation steps
Digital forensic specialists may sometimes recover deleted information, identify remnants of files, analyze metadata, or determine when data was removed. Whether forensic work is useful depends on the device, system, overwrite activity, backups, access controls, and the type of data involved.
Can Someone File a Separate Lawsuit for Destroying Evidence in California?
California generally addresses spoliation through remedies connected to the underlying litigation rather than a separate tort claim for spoliation.
In Cedars-Sinai Medical Center v. Superior Court, the California Supreme Court rejected a separate tort remedy for intentional first-party spoliation when the alleged destruction was known or should have been known before the underlying case ended. In Temple Community Hospital v. Superior Court, the court also rejected a tort cause of action for intentional third-party spoliation.
That does not mean every act involving destroyed evidence has the same legal result. Other duties, contracts, court orders, discovery obligations, or independent wrongful conduct can create separate legal questions.
When evidence disappears, the immediate issue is often what relief is available in the existing case and what steps can preserve the remaining evidence.
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What Should You Do If You Think the Other Side Deleted Evidence?
If you believe another party deleted evidence, prompt action can preserve more information and create a clearer record of what happened.
Start by preserving your own records. Do not delete, edit, replace, reset, or dispose of material that may relate to the dispute.
Your attorney may investigate missing evidence through:
- Written discovery requests
- Requests for production
- Depositions
- Subpoenas
- Third-party records
- Forensic examination
- Retention policies
- Access logs
- Backup systems
- Device records
- Cloud-service records
- Court motions
For example, workplace messages deleted from one person’s phone may still exist in another participant’s account, a company messaging platform, a server, a backup, or an exported archive.
Surveillance footage can raise similar questions. Even if the video is gone, system logs, retention policies, device records, maintenance history, or testimony from the person who managed the system may help establish when and how the footage disappeared.
The goal is to develop a factual timeline supported by records instead of assuming that every missing item was intentionally destroyed.
What If You Accidentally Deleted Evidence?
Accidental deletion does not automatically lead to the most severe sanctions.
A person may replace a phone, damage a computer, lose access to an account, or allow a system to delete information without realizing that the material should have been preserved. The court can consider the timing, reason for the loss, preservation duty, efforts made to protect the information, and prejudice to another party.
If you believe relevant evidence was accidentally lost:
- Tell your attorney promptly.
- Preserve the device, account, or system involved when possible.
- Do not conceal the loss.
- Do not create a replacement record that could be mistaken for the original.
- Identify possible backup copies or other recipients.
- Record what happened while the details are still clear.
- Avoid further deletion or system changes until preservation needs are reviewed.
Before replacing, resetting, deleting, or destroying something connected to a dispute, legal advice can help identify what should be preserved.
That can include:
- Replacing a mobile phone
- Resetting a computer
- Closing an email account
- Deleting cloud storage
- Changing message-retention settings
- Disposing of paper records
- Destroying damaged property
- Replacing surveillance equipment
How Deleted Evidence Can Affect the Entire Lawsuit
Deleted evidence can influence discovery, witness credibility, expert analysis, settlement discussions, motions, trial preparation, and the evidence that a judge or jury may consider.
A party that identifies a preservation problem early may have more options to:
- Locate another copy
- Preserve related records
- Obtain third-party data
- Request forensic analysis
- Establish a timeline
- Seek a court order
- Ask for an appropriate evidentiary or discovery remedy
Early preservation can also reduce disputes about what existed, when it existed, and why it disappeared.
Speak With a California Civil Litigation Attorney About Deleted Evidence
Deleted evidence disputes can become highly fact-specific. The date the evidence disappeared, the reason for the deletion, the preservation duty, the importance of the missing material, and the availability of other copies can affect the court’s response.
The Myers Law Group represents clients in California civil litigation matters and can evaluate evidence-preservation issues within the context of the underlying dispute. The firm has offices in Rancho Cucamonga and Santa Barbara and serves clients in California and nearby areas connected to its practice.
Learn more about California civil litigation:
https://www.myerslawgroup.com/california-civil-litigation-attorneys/
Review David P. Myers’s attorney profile:
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This article is for general informational purposes only. It is not legal advice, does not create an attorney-client relationship, and does not replace advice from an attorney about your specific situation.
