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The city officials claimed, inter alia, that they should not be sanctioned for having destroyed or otherwise failed to preserve the e-mail records because the residents had a duty to seek a preservation order from the court, which they failed to do. The court initially held that the city officials were under a duty to preserve the e-mail records at least as early as the date the residents' lawsuit was filed. The court further held that Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(b)(2) sanctions against the city officials were appropriate because the residents were surprised by the city officials' discovery, long after the discovery cutoff deadline, of 80,000 e-mail records from certain city personnel, there was no effective way to cure the surprise, and the residents had no opportunity to review the e-mail records, digest them, and assess their impact on the case. The court finally held, inter alia, that the city officials were precluded from introducing at trial any of the 80,000 e-mail records that were discovered at the last minute, and that the city officials were forbidden to use any of the e-mail records to prepare any of their witnesses for testimony at trial.

respond in this format:(answer)

I. Facts: Reiterate the facts given/ Do not embellish or delete any facts.

II. Issue: This is the question(s) that your supervising attorney has asked you to research. It is best to use the word "whether" to start your question.

III. Rule: This section should only contain the key statute and/or case that the court relied upon in reaching its decision. The Rule section must not include any other information, such as facts of the case or an analysis of the law.

IV. Brief Answer: This section should provide the reader with a concise answer to the issues that your supervising attorney has asked you to answer.

V. Analysis: This is the "heart" of your memo. Start by providing a brief summary of the facts and the law. Then you must apply the law to the facts of your case. Given that the law provides..., plaintiff will prevail because....

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