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Evidence Preservation Order Granted on Quadrino Schwartz Motion in Class Action

In a class action in New York's Supreme Court alleging improper claims handling by some of the nation's largest insurance companies, Quadrino Schwartz, representing the plaintiff and the proposed class members, moved to compel defendants to preserve certain materials as evidence. Defendants resisted, but the court granted the motion.  The decision obtained by Quadrino Schwartz, in the case of Weiller v. New York Life et al, No.04/604285, was later featured in an article in the New York Law Journal, since there is very little precedent regarding evidence preservation orders in the state court system.  See Quadrino Schwartz Court Decisions on this site for the full text of the court's decision.

The class action being prosecuted by Quadrino Schwartz is similar to a consolidated federal multi-district litigation in which two similar preservation orders are in effect (originally obtained by Quadrino Schwartz).  In granting the relief, the court explained that the federal orders were not directly binding because only a federal court would have the power to enforce a breach of those orders.  In agreeing with Quadrino Schwartz, the court determined that the federal orders might not be sufficient protection for plaintiff and the class in the New York State class action.