Spoliation of evidence is the intentional, reckless, or negligent withholding, hiding, altering, fabricating, or destroying of
evidence relevant to a legal proceeding. Historically, it has also sometimes been referred to as the
spoilage of evidence. The spoliation inference is a negative evidentiary inference that a
trier of fact can draw from a party's destruction of evidence that is relevant to an ongoing or reasonably foreseeable
civil or
criminal proceeding: the finder of fact can review all evidence uncovered in as strong a light as possible against the spoliator and in favor of the opposing party. However, in
U.S. federal courts, updates to the
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in 2015 have resulted in significant decline in spoliation sanctions.
Theory The theory of the spoliation inference is that when a party destroys evidence, it may be reasonable to infer that the party had "consciousness of guilt" or other motivation to avoid the evidence. Therefore, the factfinder may conclude that the evidence would have been unfavorable to the spoliator. Some
jurisdictions have recognized a spoliation
tort action, which allows the victim of destruction of evidence to file a separate tort action against a
spoliator. ==By law enforcement==