Idaho Joins Minority Of States Recognizing Third-Party Independent Tort Of Spoliation

“Spoliation” of evidence occurs when someone with an obligation to preserve evidence with regard to a legal claim neglects to do so or intentionally fails to do so. Such a failure to preserve evidence can take place by destruction of the evidence, damage to the evidence, or loss the evidence.

First-party spoliation claims are those claims for destruction or alteration of evidence brought against parties to underlying litigation.

Conversely, third-party spoliation claims are those destruction or alteration of evidence claims against non-parties to underlying litigation.

Moreover, most of these states generally hold that the third-party spoliator must have had a duty to preserve the evidence before liability can attach.

The majority of states that have examined this issue have preferred to remedy spoliation of evidence and the resulting damage to a party’s case or defense, through sanctions or by giving adverse inference instructions to juries.