Date: 2008-02-27 Docket: S/C/664/03 ; S/C/915/03 Peter S. Glennie J. | Link

Dismissal of a counter-claim in a termination of franchise suit based on negligent spoliation. Defendant Trane and the successor franchisee destroyed documents that the plaintiff Elliott would have used in its defence against the counter-claim. Defendant Trane knew or should have known that the information was relevant to the dispute regarding back charges. Plaintiff argues for an adverse inference, "bolstered by the fact that the letter outlining the termination details requires Trane to make the records available to Elliott if such records become necessary for a legal action. Elliott says that requests were made for these files during the litigation and Trane refused to produce them." (paras 222-227) Nice summary by Dan Michaluk here.