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Fletcher v. Dorchester Mutual Insurance Company8/16/2002
reducibly uncertain. In such cases, even if the jury infers from the act of spoliation that the spoliated evidence was somehow unfavorable to the spoliator, there will typically be no way of telling what precisely the evidence would have shown and how much it would have weighed in the spoliation victim's favor. Without knowing the content and weight of the spoliated evidence, it would be impossible for the jury to meaningfully assess what role the missing evidence would have played in the determination of the underlying action. The jury could only speculate as to what the nature of the spoliated evidenced was and what effect it might have had on the outcome of the underlying litigation." Cedars-Sinai Med. Ctr. v. Superior Court, supra at 13-14.
We agree that it is inappropriate to "open up the decision on the merits of the underlying causes of action to speculative reconsideration regarding how the presence of the spoliated evidence might have changed the outcome." Id. at 17.
The destruction of relevant evidence "is an unqualified wrong," id., that has a pernicious effect on the truth-finding function of our courts. See Nesson, Incentives to Spoliate Evidence in Civil Litigation: The Need for Vigorous Judicial Action, 13 Cardozo L. Rev. 793, 794-805 (1991). It is for that very reason that we have gone farther than other jurisdictions in imposing sanctions for spoliation. See Kippenhan v. Chaulk Serve., Inc., supra at 128. In our view, appropriately tailored sanctions imposed in the underlying action are a more efficacious remedy for spoliation than allowing a separate, inherently speculative cause of action for such litigation misconduct.
Accordingly, we affirm the dismissal of plaintiffs' claims for spoliation, and leave the plaintiffs to pursue their remedies for the alleged spoliation in the underlying tort actions.
Judgments affirmed.
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