Spoliation of Evidence

Spoliation of Evidence is the intentional or negligent withholding, hiding, altering, or destroying of Evidence relevant to a legal proceeding. Spoliation has two possible consequences: in jurisdictions where the (intentional) act is criminal by statute, it may result in fines and incarceration for the parties who engaged in the spoliation; in jurisdictions where relevant Case Law Precedent has been established, proceedings possibly altered by spoliation may be interpreted under a spoliation inference. The spoliation inference is a negative evidentiary inference that a finder of fact can draw from a party's destruction of a document or thing that is relevant to an ongoing or reasonably foreseeable civil or criminal proceeding: the finder of fact can review all Evidence uncovered in as strong a light as possible against the spoliator and in favor of the opposing party.