Pretrial Update, August 27: Google's evidence deletion "absolutely inappropriate," says Judge Brinkema, as adverse inference motion is taken under advisement

The DOJ asked Judge Brinkema to rule on an 'adverse inference' motion regarding "Google’s intentional deletion of chat evidence."

While the Court noted that it was not necessary to rule today as this is no longer a jury trial, Judge Brinkema made clear that Google's conduct was inappropriate.

According to Matt Stoller (AELP), Judge Brinkema stated that "there are a whole bunch of problems with how Google handled" evidence, calling Google's retention practices, and misuse of attorney-client privilege vis-à-vis their 'Communicate with Care' policy a "clear abuse of the process" and "absolutely inappropriate."
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The motion has been "taken under advisement."