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Physical Spoliation of Evidence: When It Doesn't Matter

BY Elliott B. Oppenheim
November 01, 2003

Physical unavailability of evidence can influence litigation, but for various reasons, the courts will not always draw an adverse inference against the party that has lost or destroyed such evidence. One of these reasons is simple relevance. A case in point is Kanyi v. United States, 2001 U.S. Dist LEXIS 19814, in which the plaintiff appealed a Magistrate Judge's order denying a motion for an adverse inference charge against defendants. The court found that even though defendants had destroyed evidence, their actions were at most merely negligent, and besides, the evidence in question was immaterial to the case.

Kanyi v. United States

In Kanyi, the police caught the defendant William Kanyi (plaintiff, in the action) attempting to import bags of heroin into the United States. Kanyi, a so-called “drug mule,” was attempting on March 30, 1998, to import 51 bags of heroin he had swallowed. He had ingested the bags before boarding a flight to New York from his home country of Ghana. On his arrival at JFK International Airport, agents of the U.S. Customs Service stopped Kanyi and searched him. During the search, Kanyi admitted that he had swallowed the heroin. He was therefore transferred to the airport medical facility, where x-rays confirmed the presence of bags containing some substance in his alimentary tract.

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