Evidentiary Sanctions Imposed Where Accused System's Log Files Decry Plaintiff's Testimony Concerning Testing

The court granted in part defendant's motion for sanctions for evidence tampering and spoliation and excluded all of plaintiff's testing of the accused devices. "The [defendant's] SYSTEM and ALERT logs automatically log critical file information. However, these logs in the [defendant's] devices in [plaintiff's] possession do not reflect the testing that [plaintiff] claims to have performed. This testing was the basis for [the] statements that would support [plaintiff's] claims. . . . Without the log information, [defendant] is effectively deprived of the opportunity to examine and verify the purported testing, inspection or other uses and results of the [accused] devices allegedly performed by [plaintiff]. . . . [Defendant] has requested preclusion of evidence and/or dismissal of this case together with attorneys’ fees and costs as sanctions. Terminating sanctions would be excessive. . . . Here it is appropriate to simply exclude any results of [plaintiff's] testing from evidence and to award [defendant] its expenses, including attorneys’ fees in this motion."

Fatpipe Networks India v. Xroads Networks, 2-09-cv-00186 (UTD January 23, 2012, Order) (Nuffer, M.J.)