The plaintiffs in Martinez v. Triple S Props. alleged in a motion for negative inference brought under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37, that the defendant intentionally burned documents relevant to the suit after it was filed to prevent disclosure of information about the potential class. The defendant was accused of violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) because it failed to give FCRA-required disclosures to Plaintiffs that it took adverse action against based on the content of the credit reports it received from May 2012 to May 2017. The alleged burned documents included lease applications and credit reports. The Court found no evidence of bad faith or intentional destruction of documents and held that the burning of papers is considered reasonable under Proper Disposal of Consumer Information.
