Law360, New York ( July 11, 2014, 10:08 AM EDT) -- After years of awaiting clarity from the Supreme Court of Texas regarding spoliation under Texas law, the Supreme Court issued a significant decision that will shift how Texas state courts handle civil jury instructions regarding "spoliation" of evidence — the withholding, alteration, or destruction of evidence relevant to a legal proceeding. Allegations of spoliation have increased as litigating parties and courts increasingly deal with massive electronic data requests during the course of discovery. A spoliation jury instruction typically informs the jury that it may consider that missing evidence was unfavorable to the spoliating party, an act that can often tilt the case — if not harm the spoliating party — in favor of the opposing party, regardless of whether or not there was an intent to destroy evidence. In Brookshire Brothers Ltd. v. Aldridge, No. 10-0846, __ S.W. 3d ___ (2014), the court addressed this issue by holding that:...