Rattray v. Woodbury County, 2010 WL 5437255 (N.D. Iowa Dec. 27, 2010)

In this case, the court imposed sanctions for defendants’ failure to preserve relevant video footage and ordered an instruction allowing the jury to determine whether the recording was destroyed in bad faith and, if so, to infer that it would have been unfavorable to the defendants.  In so holding, the court cited as an important factor that the video was the only recording of what occurred, “which weighs heavier in this case than the lack of actual knowledge that litigation was imminent at the time of the destruction.”

Rattray was arrested on August 16, 2006 for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated.  As part of the booking procedure, Rattray was strip searched.  At that time, she refused to submit to the search, screamed “Rape!”, and told the officers she intended to file a lawsuit.  There was no dispute that the Woodbury County Jail recorded Rattray’s treatment following her arrest.  On September 14, 2006, Rattray filed a motion seeking an order for the production of the recording in her criminal case.  On September 15, 2006, the Iowa district court entered an order to preserve “any video recordings of [Rattray], at the time she was booked into the jail … with respect to the charge (OWI) pending in this case.”  On October 24, 2006, Rattray’s counsel in her criminal case sent a letter to the Sheriff’s Department complaining about Rattray’s treatment “and demanding answers” but did not specifically threaten litigation or request a copy of the video recording.

Despite the above, a portion of the recording was lost.  The assistant to the chief and to the jail administrator explained that she had previously copied recordings when ordered by the court to do so, but that the copies only depicted the booking procedure.  Likewise, in the present case, the copy of the relevant recording terminated prior to Rattray being taken from the holding cell.  The assistant further testified that the policy regarding recordings had since changed, and that she was now required to copy the entire recording from the time an arrestee walks into the jail until they are placed in a temporary cell.  Any footage not copied was automatically overwritten after approximately thirty days.

via Jury to Determine Question of Bad Faith and Whether to Draw Adverse Inference as Sanction for Loss of Video Pursuant to Document Retention Policy : Electronic Discovery Law.