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Joyce Lee v. Anwar, Inc., Save More Market, XYZ Insurance Company and Nautilus Insurance Company
Opinions in this case
- Opinion
- Opinion
JOYCE LEE NO. 2024 CW 0882
VERSUS
ANWAR, INC., SAVE MORE
MARKET, XYZ INSURANCE
NOVEMBER 25, 2024
COMPANY, AND NAUTILUS
INSURANCE COMPANY
In Re: Anwar, Inc. and Nautilus Insurance Company, applying for 19th Judicial District Court, Parish supervisory writs, of East Baton Rouge, No. 720165.
BEFORE: THERIOT, CHUTZ, HESTER, GREENE, AND STROMBERG, JJ.
WRIT GRANTED. The portion of the district court' s August 15, 2024 judgment granting Plaintiff' s " Motion for Spoliation of
Evidence" is reversed. The burden of proof on a motion seeking an adverse inference due to spoliation is on the moving party to
demonstrate evidence was intentionally destroyed to deprive the
moving party from its use and/ or to its access. See Cushenberry v. Scott, 2020- 1271 ( La. App. lst Cir. 12/ 30/ 20), 2020 WL 7828810
unpublished); see also Landis Const. Co., L. L. C. v. State, 2015-
1167 ( La. lst Cir. 2/ 29/ 16), 199 So. 3d 1, 2 . Plaintiff did App. Evidence not introduce any evidence at the hearing on her motion. not and officially offered and introduced cannot be properly considered, even if it is physically placed in the record.
Moreover, as recognized in the jurisprudence, documents attached
to memoranda do not constitute evidence and cannot be considered as such on appeal. Regions Bank v. Eymard, 2021- 0926 ( La. App. lst Cir. 5/ 23/ 22), 342 So. 3d 908 , 916, writ denied, 202200977 La. 10 / 18/ 22), 348 So. 3d 731 . Plaintiff did not carry her burden of proof and therefore the district court' s ruling granting Plaintiff' s motion was an abuse of its discretion. Accordingly, Plaintiff' s " Motion for Spoliation of Evidence" is denied.
MRT WRC
HG TPS
Hester, J., dissents and would deny the writ.
COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT
PUTY CLERK OF CO
FOR THE COURT
