Blockchain Innovation, LLC v. Franklin Resources, Inc.
Opinion
Trial Court Opinion
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 BLOCKCHAIN INNOVATION, LLC, Case No. 21-cv-08787-AMO (TSH)
Plaintiff,
DISCOVERY ORDER
v. Re: Dkt. No. 220 FRANKLIN RESOURCES, INC., et al., Defendants.
12 Defendants have filed a motion for sanctions. ECF No. 220. They say that Plaintiff Blockchain Innovation, LLC (“Blockchain”) spoliated evidence. Specifically, they say that Austin Trombley, Aaron Travis and Alina Trombley failed to take reasonable steps to preserve text messages, such as in iMessage and WhatsApp, when they were anticipating litigation against Defendants, and that this failure resulted in the loss of nearly all text messages from the time period relevant to this litigation. They say that period began in August 2020. They say the failure to preserve caused them prejudice and was intentional, and they seek an adverse inference instruction. But this motion has big problems. As an initial matter, there is no evidence that Alina Trombley failed to preserve her text messages…