Can a jury be told to assume destroyed evidence was bad for the party who lost it?

· 3 min read

Yes, in appropriate cases a Georgia court can give an adverse-inference instruction, telling the jury it may infer that destroyed evidence would have been unfavorable to the party responsible for losing it. This is one of the principal remedies for spoliation, but it is permissive and is not handed out automatically.

What the adverse inference does

An adverse-inference instruction addresses the basic problem of missing evidence: no one can know exactly what the lost material would have shown. Rather than letting the destroying party benefit from that uncertainty, the instruction lets the jury fill the gap by inferring that the evidence would have hurt the party that failed to preserve it. The logic is intuitive, that a party which destroys relevant proof likely did so because the proof was harmful, and the instruction allows the jury to act on that inference.

Typically the inference is permissive rather than mandatory. The jury is told it may, not must, draw the negative conclusion. That leaves the jury to weigh the inference alongside the other evidence and the explanations offered for the loss.

When a court will give the instruction

An adverse-inference charge is a sanction, so a court orders it only after finding that spoliation occurred and that the instruction is a fitting remedy. The court generally considers:

  • Whether the party had a duty to preserve the evidence, which arises when litigation is pending or reasonably foreseeable.
  • The party’s culpability in destroying it, since a more deliberate loss more readily supports the inference.
  • The prejudice to the other side from not having the evidence.
  • Whether the instruction is proportionate, or whether a different remedy fits better.

Because it depends on these findings, the instruction is not available simply because evidence is gone. An innocent or routine loss with little prejudice may draw a milder response, while bad-faith destruction is a strong candidate for the charge, or for even harsher sanctions like exclusion or dismissal.

The remedy applies to both sides equally. A claimant who destroys relevant evidence can face an adverse inference just as a defendant can. A trial court’s decision whether to give the instruction is reviewed for abuse of discretion, reflecting how much it turns on the judge’s assessment of the specific facts.

The bottom line

A Georgia jury can be instructed that it may infer destroyed evidence was unfavorable to the party that lost it, but only after the court finds spoliation and decides the inference is a proportionate remedy. The instruction is usually permissive, leaving the jury to weigh it, and it applies to whichever party failed to preserve relevant proof.

This article is for general educational and informational purposes only and is not legal advice. It does not create an attorney-client relationship, and Georgia law may change. For advice about a specific situation, consult a licensed Georgia personal injury attorney.

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