Rimkus Consulting Group Inc. v. Cammarata - Ballard Spahr LLP

Case 4:07-cv-00405 Document 450 Filed in TXSD on 02/19/10 Page 83 of 139
garylbell@gmail.com. Bell had previously specifically denied having a Gmail account.
(Docket Entry No. 314, Deposition of Gary Bell, Vol. II at 247:20–248:1). Bell was not
asked, and did not testify about, whether he used a personal email account for U.S. Forensic
business.
When asked about deleting emails, Bell testified that he “didn’t try to get rid of
anything that [he] thought [he] shouldn’t.” (Id., Deposition of Gary Bell, Vol. I at 18:1–13).
Later in his deposition, Bell admitted deleting all U.S. Forensic marketing-related emails.
(Id., Vol. II at 342:3–5). He also testified that he deleted some, but not all, of the emails on
his computer to conserve server space, (Id., Vol. I at 55:8), and that his deletion wasn’t “as,
you know, planned as--as it could have been,” (Id. at 18:3–4). That is inconsistent with
DeHarde’s testimony that some time in the summer or fall 2006, but before November 15,
2006, the founding members of U.S. Forensic agreed to delete all emails after two weeks in
part out of space concerns. (Docket Entry No. 313, Ex F, Deposition of Michael DeHarde
at 34:21–25, 45:16–25).
Evidence in the record shows that Bell did delete emails relevant to his disputes with
Rimkus, emails that he had a duty to preserve. The deletions occurred after Bell and others
had decided to sue Rimkus and continued after they filed suit in Louisiana and were sued in
Texas. The record shows that Bell’s testimony that he was not trying to delete emails
relevant to this case was inconsistent and included some false information. The testimony
delayed discovery and made it even more difficult and costly for Rimkus to obtain
information that Bell deleted and destroyed from other sources. This testimony provides
83