Free Order on Motion for Hearing - District Court of Arizona - Arizona

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 The City of Phoenix, et al., 13 Defendant. 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Pending is Defendants' Motion For Pre-Trial Evidentiary Hearing Regarding Spoliation of Evidence (Doc. #104). Defendants anticipate that "at trial Plaintiffs will offer evidence designed to show that the Defendants destroyed evidence by not keeping copies of the officer to officer radio transmissions . . . . giving rise to a spoliation instruction." As a result, Defendants request that the Court hold a hearing on spoliation to determine whether the evidence was willfully destroyed. Defendants' Motion is premature, as it rests upon actions it anticipates Plaintiffs will take, and would be more properly addressed in the context of a motion in limine or submitted in the joint proposed pretrial order to be addressed at the final pretrial conference. Thus, the Motion will be denied, but without prejudice. Should Defendants later seek to exclude spoliation evidence or to challenge an adverse inference instruction, assuming one is proposed by Plaintiffs, they will be permitted to do so consistent with this Order and the claims surviving summary judgment.
Case 2:03-cv-01892-ROS Document 132 Filed 09/26/2006 Page 1 of 2

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

Teresa August, et al., Plaintiff, vs.

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No. CV 03-1892-PHX-ROS ORDER

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 -2Case 2:03-cv-01892-ROS Document 132 Filed 09/26/2006 Page 2 of 2

Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiffs' Motion For Evidentiary Hearing (Doc. #104) is denied.

DATED this 26th day of September, 2006.