Employer Can�t Be Sued For Intentional Spoliation

The estate of an employee killed in an explosion could not sue his employer for intentional spoliation of evidence for discarding the allegedly defective pump that caused the accident, a Court has ruled. The employee worked for an environmental cleanup company. He was assigned to clean a chemical firm�s holding tank. During the process the equipment malfunctioned, an explosion occurred and the employee suffered fatal burns. Three days after the explosion, the state Occupational Safety and Health Administration contacted the company and asked if it still possessed any of the equipment or debris. An OSHA employee asked the owner not to dispose of it, but he later reported that he had thrown it all away. The victim�s estate sued the employer for spoliation of evidence. But the Court said the claim should be dismissed. �The state OSHA�s instruction to retain the debris,� the court said, �made no reference to the need to preserve the evidence for use by the victim�s estate in private litigation.� To the extent the state OSHA�s request created any duty to preserve the evidence, it was a duty owed to the state OSHA, not to the victim or his estate.