US says Google routinely Destroyed Evidence and Lied about use of Auto-delete

[upnorth]

Content source

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/02/us-says-google-routinely-destroyed-evidence-and-lied-about-use-of-auto-delete/

The US government asked a federal court to sanction Google for allegedly using an auto-delete function on chats to destroy evidence needed in an antitrust lawsuit while falsely telling the government that it suspended its auto-deletion practices.

The US motion to sanction Google seeks a ruling that Google violated the rule against spoliation of evidence and "an evidentiary hearing to assess the appropriate sanctions to remedy Google's spoliation." The US also sought an order forcing "Google to provide further information about custodians' history-off chat practices, through written declarations and oral testimony, in advance of the requested hearing." The motion was filed under seal on February 10 and unsealed yesterday. "Google consciously failed to preserve relevant evidence. The daily destruction of relevant evidence was inevitable when Google set a company-wide default to delete history-off chat messages every 24 hours, and then elected to maintain that auto-delete setting for custodians subject to a litigation hold," US Department of Justice antitrust lawyers wrote in a memorandum supporting the motion.

Google "had a duty to preserve employee chat messages" starting in 2019 due to the litigation, the US motion said. "Google's daily destruction of written records prejudiced the United States by depriving it of a rich source of candid discussions between Google's executives, including likely trial witnesses," according to the US filing in US District Court for the District of Columbia. Google's auto-deletions continued until February 8, the US said. "Amazingly, Google's daily spoliation continued until this week," the US alleged. "When the United States indicated that it would file this motion—following months of conferral—Google finally committed to 'permanently set to history on' and thus preserve its employees' chat messages."

On the new motion, Google provided Ars a statement disputing the allegations. "We strongly refute the DOJ's claims," Google said. "Our teams have conscientiously worked for years to respond to inquiries and litigation. In fact, we have produced over 4 million documents in this case alone, and millions more to regulators around the world."

US says Google routinely destroyed evidence and lied about use of auto-delete

Filing: Google deleted chats for nearly four years despite requirement to keep them.

arstechnica.com

 

[upnorth]

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.'" He said that chats produced by Google last month in response to a court order "provided additional evidence of highly spotty practices in response to the litigation hold notices." For example, Donato quoted one newly produced chat in which "an employee said he or she was 'on legal hold' but that they preferred to keep chat history off."

Donato hasn't yet decided how Google should be sanctioned, saying the "determination of an appropriate non-monetary sanction requires further proceeding."

Judge finds Google destroyed evidence and repeatedly gave false info to court

Google in trouble for auto-deleting chats needed as evidence in Epic Games case.

arstechnica.com

 

[oldschool]

I actually know that judge from another lifetime. He handled a complex mass shooting years ago, among other work as an attorney. He was a great pick for judge. You don't mess with The Man, not even Google.