We successfully conducted an unprecedented trial in a class action regarding email destruction. We established at the trial that the insurance company violated an evidence preservation order that had been sought and obtained by us. The preservation order was obtained to prevent emails and other materials from routine or other destruction so that they would be available during the discovery process. The trial was part of our longstanding fight against the nation’s largest disability insurer. The firm has obtained significant results and gained protections for literally hundreds of thousands of people throughout the United States.
From the outset of the class action, we were very concerned about documents and emails being destroyed before we could review them, so we vigorously pursued and obtained from the court a special court order requiring Unum Provident Corporation to save everything that could be possibly relevant to the case. The order required UnumProvident to preserve thousands of boxes of documents and various emails and other computer based information. When it was revealed that many thousands of the company’s emails had been deleted, in violation of the court order, we vigorously conducted an investigation, engaged in a full-blown trial, and obtained a critical court decision regarding the facts found in our investigation.
The Court’s decision after the trial details all of the facts elicited in our investigation, which was comprised of depositions of various witnesses, a review of Unum Provident’s corporate email communications, as well an in-court testimony elicited by case on behalf of the many thousands of potential class members. There will be further activities in the litigation to determine the full extent of the harm caused to the potential class members due to Unum Provident’s destruction of its internal company emails.
We believes that many of these emails contain the critical evidence needed to fully reveal the unlawful claims practices of the company. All of the email tapes that were not destroyed are preserved for our future review so that we can assess what steps the court may need to take concerning this destruction of evidence.
Based upon the email destruction and Unum Provident’s failure to fully secure other critical documents, we pressed Unum Provident to gather and secure other documents, and they resisted. When we brought this issue to the court, UnumProvident was ordered to promptly seize critical internal company files from the desks and offices of UnumProvident vice presidents and other managers, so that they could be secured for our review. These materials are now being held in a secure off-site warehouse.
Evan S. Schwartz
Founder of Schwartz, Conroy & Hack
800-745-1755
ESS@schwartzlawpc.com