Spoliation of evidence is the intentional, reckless, or negligent withholding, hiding, altering, fabricating, or destroying of
evidence relevant to a legal proceeding.
[5] Spoliation has three possible consequences: in jurisdictions where the (intentional) act is criminal by
statute, it may result in fines and
incarceration (if convicted in a separate criminal proceeding) for the parties who engaged in the spoliation; in jurisdictions where relevant
case law precedent has been established, proceedings possibly altered by spoliation may be interpreted under a
spoliation inference, or by other corrective measures, depending on the jurisdiction; in some jurisdictions the act of spoliation can itself be an actionable tort.
[6]
The spoliation inference is a negative evidentiary inference that a
finder of fact can draw from a party's destruction of a document or thing 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.
Tampering with evidence - Wikipedia
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