Sears, Roebuck and Co. v. Midcap

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• holding that an adverse inference instruction is proper where evidence was destroyed intentionally or recklessly and rejecting the notion that evidence of bad faith is always required
• reversing judgment when trial court issued spoliation 43 instruction to jury but failed to make a preliminary evidentiary finding regarding the purported document destruction
• “The custom or practice in a particular industry is probative of what conduct is reasonable under the circumstances.”
• adverse inferences “require a preliminary finding of intentional or reckless destruction of evidence”
• “An adverse inference instruction is appropriate where a litigant intentionally or recklessly destroys evidence, when it knows that the item in question is relevant to a legal dispute or it was otherwise under a legal duty to preserve the item.”
• “An adverse inference [determination] is appropriate where a litigant intentionally or recklessly destroys evidence, when it knows that the item in question is relevant to a legal dispute or it was otherwise under a legal duty to preserve the item.”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).

Cited by

35 cases in this archive cite this case; the 20 most cited are listed.

• Genger v. TR INVESTORS, LLC
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 2011-07-18· cited 77×
• Beard Research, Inc. v. Kates
  Court of Chancery of Delaware· 2009-05-29· cited 38×
• Miller v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 2010-04-21· cited 14×
• Roberts v. Delmarva Power & Light Co.
  Superior Court of Delaware· 2009-01-30· cited 9×
• Perkins v. Towne Dollar and Tobacco, LLC
  Superior Court of Delaware· 2014-11-17
• James v. National Financial LLC
  Court of Chancery of Delaware· 2014-12-05
• Kan-Di-Ki, LLC v. Suer
  Court of Chancery of Delaware· 2015-07-22
• OptimisCorp.
  Court of Chancery of Delaware· 2015-08-26
• PATRICIA A. MCLEOD v. PATRICK SWIER, M.D.
  Superior Court of Delaware· 2016-01-27
• Delaware Acceptance Corp, CACV of Colorado, LLC and 202 Investments, Inc. v. Estate of Frank C. Metzner, Sr.
  Court of Chancery of Delaware· 2017-05-22
• Phelps v. West
  Superior Court of Delaware· 2017-10-17
• Culler v. Bayhealth Medical Center, Inc., d/b/a Milford Memorial Hospital
  Superior Court of Delaware· 2018-04-16
• Foreman v. Two Farms, Inc.
  Superior Court of Delaware· 2018-10-04
• Powell, Esq. v. AmGuard Insurance Company
  Superior Court of Delaware· 2020-03-02
• In re Happy Child World, Inc.
  Court of Chancery of Delaware· 2020-09-29
• Fortis Advisors, LLC v. Dematic Corp.
  Superior Court of Delaware· 2021-06-03
• Danberger v. Danberger
  Delaware Family Court· 2013-12-09
• SPay, Inc. v. Stack Media Inc. k/n/a JLC2011, Inc.
  Court of Chancery of Delaware· 2021-12-21
• Chung v. Lee
  Superior Court of Delaware· 2022-03-31
• State of Delaware ex rel. Jennings v. Concrete Technology Resurfacing & Design, Inc.
  Superior Court of Delaware· 2022-10-10

Cites

25 cases in this archive are cited by this case; the 20 most cited are listed.

• Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
  Supreme Court· 1993-06-28· cited 21,376×
• M.G. Bancorporation, Inc. v. Le Beau
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1999-05-27· cited 201×
• Kenneth Gumbs and Yvonne Gumbs v. International Harvester, Inc.
  Third Circuit· 1983-09-30· cited 150×
• Deberry v. State
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1983-01-27· cited 112×
• John Munson Morris Margaret Morris v. Union Pacific Railroad
  Eighth Circuit· 2004-08-04· cited 98×
• Hammond v. State
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1989-12-28· cited 91×
• Lolly v. State
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1992-07-27· cited 76×
• Brokenbrough v. State
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1987-03-18· cited 69×
• Yarrington v. Thornburg
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1964-11-11· cited 66×
• Robelen Piano Company v. Di Fonzo
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1961-03-09· cited 60×
• Eskin v. Carden
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 2004-02-13· cited 57×
• Equitable Trust Co. v. Gallagher
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1954-02-05· cited 37×
• DeAngelis v. Harrison
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1993-07-28· cited 33×
• Morgan Guar. Trust Co. of NY v. Garrett Corp.
  S.D. New York· 1986-01-06· cited 31×
• Allen v. State
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1994-04-26· cited 27×
• Cunningham v. McDonald
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1997-01-22· cited 23×
• Collins v. Throckmorton
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1980-12-05· cited 22×
• James v. Glazer
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 1990-02-06· cited 20×
• Corbitt v. Tatagari
  Supreme Court of Delaware· 2002-08-16· cited 19×
• Magee v. Rose
  Superior Court of Delaware· 1979-07-09· cited 18×