Saxton

DISCUSSION

18 Plaintiffs Michelle Saxton and the Estate of Amber Marcotte request sanctions pursuant to 19 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37 based upon defendants’ alleged destruction of electronically 20 stored information (“ESI”). Plaintiffs contend that defendants intentionally destroyed emails sent 21 or received by Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department employees regarding the circumstances of 22 Amber Marcotte’s death on October 29, 2020 in the Sonoma County Main Adult Detention 23 Center, particularly emails regarding the ensuing criminal and Internal Affairs investigations into 24 her death. Plaintiffs seek terminating sanctions, or in the alternative an adverse jury instruction. 25 Plaintiffs argue that defendants must have destroyed relevant emails because (1) 26 defendants failed to institute a litigation hold until July 15, 2021, and even that litigation hold was 27 inadequate because it only applied to the employees who responded to Ms. Marcotte’s cell on the day of her death and did not cover all of the employees involved in the investigations; (2) the Department’s email retention policy provides for automatic deletion of emails after 60 days; and 3…