Evidence
Judge Refuses to Sanction JetBlue for Destroying Document
Posted May 6, 2008, 08:05 am CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A magistrate judge in New York has refused to impose a sanction on JetBlue for destroying a document in a passenger’s lawsuit against the airline for failing to protect her from another passenger.
Magistrate Judge Cheryl Pollak said the plaintiff had failed to show she was prejudiced by the destruction of the document, a flight attendant’s handwritten report that she had seen a passenger kicking the back of the plaintiff’s seat, the New York Law Journal reports.
The plaintiff claims a passenger kicked the back of her seat so violently that her injuries will require surgery. The airline destroyed the original report but turned over three electronic versions of the document.
Pollak did allow the plaintiff to collect attorney fees for pursuing her spoliation claim. "To allow the destruction of this record while the case was ongoing was at best negligent,” the judge wrote.
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