I did not mean to imply that the destruction of notes was "illegal," but I did mean to equate destruction of notes with destruction of evidence. In dozens of cases in which I have been deposed, my notes and sketches have had a sticker affixed to them during the deposition. The sticker either says "Plaintiff's exhibit #" or "Defendant's exhibit #."
I suppose if I had destroyed those documents prior to the deposition, they would never had a sticker affixed, and would never have become "evidence." That's a specious argument, and not a vey convincing one. I would not want to defend that position in front of a jury. If an adverse expert takes that position, it is likely to make my client very happy.
The issue of whether notes are discoverable is a different issue than whether an investigator should destroy notes. Let the lawyers fight about what is and is not discoverable. What we should not do is make discovery impossible.
If ALL of the information collected is transferred to another format, then I see no problem with that, but we all know that in the recreation of an historical event like a fire, we collect way more data than we need to write a report. So a report is almost certainly NOT going to contain all of the information collected, nor should it. But the information should not be destroyed. Once data is recorded in notes, it should be kept. How hard is that?
John Lentini, CFI, D-ABC
Fire Investigation Consultant
Florida Keys
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