In Vibra-Tech Engineers, Inc. v. Kavalek [pdf], No. 08-2646 (D.N.J. Dec. 22, 2011), Senior U.S. District Judge Joseph E. Irenas denied Defendants’ Motion for Sanctions, holding that the plaintiff did not intentionally destroy or withhold documents or electronic information and that the defendant had failed to prove any prejudice resulting from the purportedly missing emails.

The plaintiff alleges that the defendants breached their employment agreements and misappropriated the plaintiff’s proprietary information to start a competing company.  The defendants contended that the plaintiff failed to produce relevant emails between the parties that would support the defendants’ defense that they did not unfairly solicit the plaintiff’s customers.  However, the court did not find any specific evidence of fraud or bad faith – a prerequisite for sanctions in the Third Circuit – but rather found that the plaintiff had conducted three separate searches for relevant electronic information and had produced all relevant emails.  Even if certain emails were missing from the plaintiff’s production, the court held that the defendants would suffer no prejudice since it could obtain the same evidence from other sources.