Joe Gibbs Racing Seeks Court's Adverse Inference on Deleted Texts
Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is pursuing legal action in the Western District of North Carolina, seeking to have the jury instructed to assume that deleted text messages were removed for malicious reasons. This request is part of a broader effort to hold Spire and Chris Gabehart accountable for a deleted seven-message thread with Jeff Dickerson.
Gabehart deleted the messages on November 15, which he claims were related to his future employment with Spire and not intended to hide evidence. JGR argues that the deletion should allow the jury to infer that the texts contained damaging information, despite lacking concrete evidence to support this claim. Gabehart's legal team contends that the request is an attempt to substitute speculation for actual evidence.
In a filing, Gabehart's attorney emphasized that the texts were deleted before any litigation was anticipated and that JGR has not proven that any trade secrets were misappropriated. Spire has also distanced itself from the situation, asserting that the auto-delete feature on Dickerson's phone was the sole reason for the message deletion. The court is yet to decide on JGR's motion as the trial approaches.
