The court holds that, with rare exception, intent is required
for spoliation instructions in Texas.
On July 3, the Texas Supreme Court issued its ruling in
Brookshire Brothers, Ltd. v. Aldridge,1 holding, with a
narrow exception, that a party must intentionally spoliate evidence
in order for a trial court to give a spoliation instruction.
Background
In Brookshire, a personal injury lawsuit, the plaintiff slipped
and fell near a display table in a grocery store. The plaintiff did
not immediately report the incident, but he returned to the store a
few days later to report his injury. One of the store's
surveillance cameras captured the fall on video. The store saved
the video footage from just before the plaintiff entered the store
until shortly after he left. However, additional footage from the
day was destroyed pursuant to the store's retention policy,
which provided for video surveillance on a continuous loop that
recorded over prior events approximately every
