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Freeman [soylentnews.org] writes:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/03/judge-finds-google-destroyed-evidence-and-repeatedly-gave-false-info-to-court/ [arstechnica.com]

A federal judge yesterday ruled that Google intentionally destroyed evidence and must be sanctioned, rejecting the company's argument that it didn't need to automatically preserve internal chats involving employees subject to a legal hold.

"After substantial briefing by both sides, and an evidentiary hearing that featured witness testimony and other evidence, the Court concludes that sanctions are warranted," US District Judge James Donato wrote. Later in the ruling, he wrote that evidence shows that "Google intended to subvert the discovery process, and that Chat evidence was 'lost with the intent to prevent its use in litigation' and 'with the intent to deprive another party of the information's use in the litigation.'"
[...]
After yesterday's ruling against Google in the Northern California federal court, a US Department of Justice attorney submitted a notice of the sanctions [courtlistener.com] to the DC-based court. Google is fighting the request for sanctions [arstechnica.com] in that case, too.

Related:
US DoJ, Microsoft and 35 States Support an Appeal of Epic Games-Apple Decision [soylentnews.org] (20220202)
Google's Antitrust Case Won't Go to Trial Until Sept. 2023 [soylentnews.org] (20201221)
Google Reportedly Could be Hit With Second Antitrust Lawsuit This Week [soylentnews.org] (20201217)

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