[PUBLISH]

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT

________________________

No. 18-11638

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D.C. Docket No. 1:16-cv-21769-KMW

IRINA TESORIERO,

 Plaintiff-Appellant,

versus

CARNIVAL CORPORATION, 

d.b.a. Carnival Cruise Line,

 Defendant-Appellee.

________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Southern District of Florida

________________________

(July 14, 2020)

Before ROSENBAUM, GRANT, and HULL, Circuit Judges.

GRANT, Circuit Judge:

When Irina Tesoriero sat on the vanity chair in her Carnival Cruise ship

cabin, she was in for a terrible surprise—it collapsed. While she and her husband 

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waited for help to arrive, they saw that a leg had fallen off the chair. Observing no 

other outward defects, they took some photos of the pegs that normally held the 

chair together, which became visible only after the chair broke. Still waiting for 

help, they let in a steward who came to replace the broken chair with a fresh one. 

Finally, the Tesorieros took matters into their own hands and went directly to the 

onboard medical center; there, they were told that Tesoriero’s arm was not broken, 

and an x-ray was taken to be sure. The onboard doctor treated her with Tylenol, 

ice, and a sling and sent the couple on their way. 

Understandably frustrated that her injury continued to bother her, Tesorerio 

sought treatment at home after the cruise. Still no broken arm, but she was 

suffering from a terrible case of medial epicondylitis and ulnar neurapraxia—a 

diagnosis Tesoriero describes as tennis elbow. Tesoriero was also understandably 

frustrated with Carnival, and filed suit against the cruise line, alleging that it had

failed to inspect and maintain the cabin furniture (or else warn her of the danger 

the chair posed). Perhaps aware of the difficulty she may have in showing that 

Carnival had notice about the chair’s dangers (especially given the photos 

suggesting no outward defects), she fought the usual notice requirement on two 

fronts: first, she alleged that res ipsa loquitor applied and meant that she did not 

need to show notice, and second, she claimed that Carnival should be sanctioned 

with an adverse inference on notice because it failed to preserve the broken chair. 

The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Carnival. The 

court found that the cruise line did not have notice that the chair was dangerous, 

that res ipsa loquitor did not apply, and that the failure to save the chair was not 

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sanctionable. Tesoriero now appeals those three conclusions. After careful 

review, we agree with the district court that Tesoriero failed to show that Carnival 

had actual or constructive notice that the chair was broken. Unlike the district 

court, we decline to consider whether res ipsa loquitor applies; even if it does, that 

doctrine cannot cure a defect in notice. Nor can the requested spoliation sanctions; 

even setting aside whether we think the chair itself could have provided any 

evidence of notice, Carnival’s failure to preserve the chair was not shown to be in 

bad faith and is therefore not sanctionable. For all those reasons, we affirm. 

I.

On June 26, 2015, Irina Tesoriero was getting ready for dinner in her cabin 

aboard the Carnival Splendor. She pulled a wooden chair “about a foot” away 

from the vanity and attempted to sit down, but it collapsed beneath her. Her right 

collarbone struck the vanity and her right arm was injured; initially, she believed 

that her arm was broken. Her husband, Joseph Tesoriero, witnessed the incident

and called the front desk for help.

While waiting for help to arrive, Joseph inspected and photographed the 

chair. He saw that it “did not have any obvious or observable outward defects” 

before it broke. He also saw that the right front leg, which had been attached to the 

seat by pegs, had fallen off, and that the glue on the pegs was dried and chipped. 

In his opinion, it “was obvious from the appearance of the pegs—visible only after 

it fell apart—that the pegs had been unglued and loose for a long time.” A steward

came to the cabin, took away the broken chair, and replaced it with a new one. 

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The chair was later disposed of by an unknown crew member because it could not 

be fixed.

Tesoriero and her husband waited around for medical staff, and went to the 

onboard medical center when in-cabin aid was not forthcoming. Tesoriero was

then examined by a physician, who told her (correctly, as it turns out) that she did 

not have a fracture and gave her Tylenol, ice, and an arm sling. Although an x-ray 

was taken, it was sent to Miami for review because it could not be read on the ship. 

While at the medical center, Joseph Tesoriero completed a “passenger injury 

statement” on his wife’s behalf. The statement collected basic information,

including the time, date, and location of the incident.

In accordance with Carnival’s policy, because Tesoriero’s injury only 

required first aid—and because she did not request an accident report—the medical 

staff classified the accident as “non-reportable.” That meant that the security 

department, which is responsible for investigating accidents and, when necessary, 

preserving evidence, was asked to do neither. The room stewards, on the other 

hand, dispose of broken furniture that cannot be repaired and only preserve it if 

asked to do so. That general policy was followed here, so the chair was not 

preserved.

After Tesoriero disembarked, she received confirmation that her x-ray 

results did not show a broken arm. But the arm was not ready to make peace, and 

Tesoriero continued to experience pain and swelling. She was ultimately

diagnosed with medial epicondylitis and ulnar neurapraxia, which she described as 

“tennis elbow.” Tesoriero struggled to get her arm back to full strength, 

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undergoing injections, therapy, and surgery, apparently with little success; she says 

that she continued to require medical treatment into this litigation, and that she 

struggles with basic tasks like cooking, taking out the garbage, and carrying 

groceries.

A little less than a year after the cruise, Tesoriero filed a complaint against 

Carnival in the Southern District of Florida, asserting a single claim of negligence 

based on Carnival’s alleged failure to inspect and maintain the cabin furniture and 

failure to warn passengers of the unsafe condition. Both parties moved for 

summary judgment. For its part, Carnival invoked a familiar defense, arguing that 

it was not responsible for Tesoriero’s injury because it had neither actual nor 

constructive knowledge that the chair was unsafe prior to the incident. 

During discovery, Tesoriero deposed the housekeeping manager who was

aboard the ship at the time of the accident. The manager testified that stewards 

cleaned the cabins daily and were responsible for inspecting the cabin furniture. 

He explained that that process involved physical movement of the chairs in the 

course of vacuuming, as well as visual inspection of the entire cabin, including the 

furniture, for signs of damage. Damaged furniture was reported to a floor 

supervisor, who was tasked with making a record of the problem and addressing it. 

When repairs were possible, they were made, and when repairs were not possible,

the items were disposed of. 

Tesoriero’s arguments—considering both her response to Carnival’s motion

and her own motion for summary judgment—were threefold. First, she said that 

the condition of the chair, coupled with Carnival’s regular inspections of the cabin 

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furniture, was enough to constitute constructive notice of the dangerous condition.1 

Second, she contended that the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur applied and eliminated 

the need for her to show that Carnival had notice in any event. Finally, she argued 

that Carnival’s disposal of the broken chair amounted to spoliation of evidence and 

entitled her to an inference that Carnival had notice of the risk-creating condition. 

A magistrate judge issued a report and recommendation on the competing 

motions. He said that the evidence demonstrated that “no reasonable inspection 

could have discovered the dangerous condition without first deconstructing the 

cabin chair.” As to the res ipsa loquitur issue, the magistrate first concluded that 

the doctrine, if applicable, would indeed absolve Tesoriero of any need to show 

that Carnival had actual or constructive notice of the dangerous condition. 

Ultimately though, he decided that the doctrine did not apply because a collapsing 

chair can easily happen even without negligence. Finally, the magistrate declined 

to sanction Carnival for spoliation of evidence, seeing no evidence that Carnival

reasonably anticipated litigation following the accident. 

Over Tesoriero’s objections, the district court affirmed and adopted the 

magistrate judge’s report and recommendation and granted Carnival summary 

judgment. In adopting the recommendation, the court specifically ruled that res 

ipsa loquitur did not apply and that the facts surrounding the disposal of the broken 

1 At the trial level, Tesoriero pressed additional arguments. She said that Carnival had 

constructive notice because of (1) a prior accident involving a collapsing metal balcony chair; 

and (2) internal documents from Carnival regarding the repair and replacement of cabin chairs. 

She also contended that her negligent maintenance claim did not require a showing of notice. 

The district court rejected all these arguments, and Tesoriero does not challenge those rulings on 

appeal.

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chair did “not amount to spoliation such that an adverse inference is warranted.” 

Tesoriero appealed.

II.

“We review a district court’s grant of summary judgment de novo. 

Summary judgment is appropriate only when no genuine issue of material fact 

exists and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Lewis v. 

City of Union City, 918 F.3d 1213, 1220 n.4 (11th Cir. 2019) (en banc) (internal 

citation omitted). We view “the evidence and all reasonable inferences drawn from 

it in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party.” Hornsby-Culpepper v. 

Ware, 906 F.3d 1302, 1311 (11th Cir. 2018). “Where the record taken as a whole 

could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the non-moving party, there is no 

genuine issue for trial.” Id. (quotation marks and citation omitted). “We review the 

district court’s decision regarding spoliation sanctions for abuse of discretion.” 

Flury v. Daimler Chrysler Corp., 427 F.3d 939, 943 (11th Cir. 2005). We “may 

affirm for any reason supported by the record, even if not relied upon by the district 

court.” Lage v. Ocwen Loan Servicing LLC, 839 F.3d 1003, 1009 (11th Cir. 2016)

(citation omitted).

III.

On appeal, Tesoriero raises three arguments. First, she argues that her 

husband’s observations about the broken cabin chair, coupled with Carnival’s 

admitted regular inspections, show that Carnival had constructive notice that the 

chair was dangerous. Second, she argues that even if she cannot establish notice,

the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur saves her claim because it eliminates the ordinary 

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notice requirement. Finally, she argues that she is entitled to an adverse inference 

against Carnival on the notice requirement in any event because Carnival spoliated 

evidence when it discarded the chair.

A.

Before turning to Tesoriero’s constructive notice argument, we should say a 

few words about the background legal principles in play. “Maritime law governs 

actions arising from alleged torts committed aboard a ship sailing in navigable 

waters.” Guevara v. NCL (Bahamas) Ltd., 920 F.3d 710, 720 (11th Cir. 2019). 

“Drawn from state and federal sources, the general maritime law is an amalgam of 

traditional common-law rules, modifications of those rules, and newly created 

rules.” Misener Marine Const., Inc. v. Norfolk Dredging Co., 594 F.3d 832, 838 

(11th Cir. 2010) (quoting E. River S.S. Corp. v. Transamerica Delaval, Inc., 476 

U.S. 858, 864–65 (1986)). And in the absence of an established federal maritime 

rule, we “may borrow from a variety of sources in establishing common law 

admiralty rules to govern maritime liability where deemed appropriate.” Marastro 

Compania Naviera, S.A. v. Canadian Mar. Carriers, Ltd., 959 F.2d 49, 53 (5th Cir. 

1992) (applying the “general common law and in particular the Restatement 

(Second) of Torts” to “determine the law of maritime trespass”); see also Wells v. 

Liddy, 186 F.3d 505, 525 (4th Cir. 1999) ( The “general maritime law may be 

supplemented by either state law or more general common law principles.” (internal 

citation omitted)). For maritime tort cases in particular, “we rely on general 

principles of negligence law.” Chaparro v. Carnival Corp., 693 F.3d 1333, 1336 

(11th Cir. 2012) (citation omitted).

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A few key principles have developed to guide our analysis of these torts. A

cruise line “is not liable to passengers as an insurer,” but instead is liable to 

passengers “only for its negligence.” Keefe v. Bahama Cruise Line, Inc., 867 F.2d 

1318, 1322 (11th Cir. 1989) (citation omitted). The elements of a maritime 

negligence claim, in turn, are well-established, and stem from general principles of 

tort law. A cruise passenger must show that “(1) the defendant had a duty to protect 

the plaintiff from a particular injury, (2) the defendant breached that duty, (3) the 

breach actually and proximately caused the plaintiff’s injury, and (4) the plaintiff 

suffered actual harm.” Guevara, 920 F.3d at 720 (quoting Chaparro, 693 F.3d at

1336).

Here, the first question for us is the scope of Carnival’s duty to Tesoriero. 

Shipowners owe their passengers a duty of “ordinary reasonable care under the 

circumstances.” Keefe, 867 F.2d at 1322. This standard requires, “as a prerequisite 

to imposing liability, that the carrier have had actual or constructive notice of the 

risk-creating condition,” at least so long as “the menace is one commonly 

encountered on land and not clearly linked to nautical adventure.” Id.; Everett v. 

Carnival Cruise Lines, 912 F.2d 1355, 1358 (11th Cir. 1990). In other words, a 

cruise ship operator’s duty is to shield passengers from known dangers (and from 

dangers that should be known), whether by eliminating the risk or warning of it. 

Liability for a cruise ship operator thus ‘“hinges on whether it knew or should have 

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known’ about the dangerous condition.” Guevara, 920 F.3d at 720 (quoting Keefe, 

867 F.2d at 1322). 2

We have identified at least two ways that constructive notice can be shown. 

First, a plaintiff can establish constructive notice by showing that a “defective 

condition existed for a sufficient period of time to invite corrective measures.” Id.

(alterations adopted) (quoting Monteleone v. Bahama Cruise Line, Inc., 838 F.2d 

63, 65 (2d Cir. 1988)). Second, a plaintiff can show evidence of “substantially 

similar incidents in which conditions substantially similar to the occurrence in 

question must have caused the prior accident.” Id. (quotation marks and citation 

omitted). On the other hand, the fact that the cruise line runs the ship is not 

enough—constructive notice of a risk cannot be imputed merely because a 

shipowner “created or maintained” the premises. Everett, 912 F.2d at 1358–59. 

Here, the evidence does not show—and Tesoriero does not contend—that 

Carnival had actual notice that the chair was dangerous. Nor do we have any

evidence of substantially similar incidents involving wooden cabin chairs. 

Tesoriero’s sole argument that Carnival had constructive notice relies on her 

husband’s observations about the chair, along with Carnival’s furniture-inspection 

policy. In her view, these facts demonstrate that Carnival should have known about 

2 This notice requirement is not unique to maritime law. For example, in a traditional negligence 

action against a landowner by an invitee, a “defect or danger is generally insufficient to establish 

liability, unless it is shown to be of such a character or of such duration that the jury may 

reasonably conclude that due care would have discovered it.” W. Page Keeton et al., Prosser 

and Keeton on the Law of Torts § 61, at 426–27 (5th ed. 1984). So, for example, the “mere fact 

of the presence of a banana peel on a floor may not be sufficient to show that it has been there 

long enough for reasonable care to require the defendant to discover and remove it,” while a 

“black, flattened out and gritty” peel might lead to a different conclusion. Id. § 39, at 243

(citation omitted). The key is notice.

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the chair’s “hair-trigger condition.” For Tesoriero to prevail on this theory, we 

would need to conclude that the chair existed in a defective condition “for a 

sufficient period of time to invite corrective measures.” Guevara, 920 F.3d at 720. 

A defect, however, must be reasonably detectable for it to “invite” corrective 

measures, and we cannot see how the chair’s condition here issued any such 

invitation.

To begin, Carnival’s “regular inspections weigh against a finding of 

constructive notice” that the chair was dangerous—not in favor of that finding. Id.

at 723 n.8; see also Monteleone, 838 F.2d at 66. The daily inspection policy

required stewards to report damaged furniture to a floor supervisor, and the 

supervisor was then responsible for documenting and addressing the issue. The 

lack of a report noting structural damage to Tesoriero’s cabin chair—or any wooden 

cabin chair for that matter—indicates that the chair was not in a condition that 

invited corrective measures.

And at a more basic level, Tesoriero’s constructive notice argument is

undermined by her own evidence. In Joseph Tesoriero’s affidavit describing the 

incident, he observed that the glue on the pegs holding the chair together “appeared 

to be dried out or chipped away” and that it was “obvious” that “the pegs had been 

unglued and loose for a long time.” But those observations, however obvious they 

may have been after the fall, could not have been made by the crew before the chair 

came apart. Joseph Tesoriero himself admitted that—before its collapse—the 

“chair did not have any obvious or observable outward defects.” In fact, he added 

that the condition of the pegs was “visible only after it fell apart.” 

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The photographic evidence submitted by Tesoriero only reinforces her 

husband’s observations. Though the pictures cannot reveal the state of the glue, it 

appears that the leg and seat of the chair were held together by four pegs that fit into 

opposing holes. With the chair intact, its cloth-covered frame would have

enveloped and obscured the peg-and-hole assembly. So, consistent with Joseph 

Tesoriero’s testimony, any defect relating to dried or chipped glue could not have 

been visible until the chair came apart. 

Even beyond the lack of any outwardly visible defect, Tesoriero’s

characterization of the chair’s “hair-trigger condition” is weakened by her own 

testimony. In her deposition, Tesoriero testified that she moved the chair back from 

the vanity, evidently without noticing any problem; the issue only became apparent 

after the chair broke under her full weight.

The combined effect of this evidence does not support a reasonable 

inference that Carnival should have known about the danger. Quite the opposite: it 

supports an inference that the defect in the chair was hidden, was not readily 

observable by sight or touch, and could only be discovered by either disassembling 

the chair to view the pegs or stress testing it. An implicit legal requirement that all 

furniture on a cruise ship be either disassembled or subjected to daily stress testing

would be remarkable. Rather than establishing that Carnival should have known of 

the chair’s defective condition, the evidence supports the cruise line’s assertion that

moving the chair during cleaning and conducting routine visual inspections did not 

reveal a risk-creating condition.

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B.

That brings us to res ipsa loquitur. Tesoriero argues that even if she cannot 

show that Carnival had notice of the chair’s dangerous condition, the cruise line can 

still be held liable under that doctrine because it eliminates the usual notice 

requirement. Her theory, though, fails on several fronts: it not only misunderstands

the relationship between duty and notice in a tort claim but would also dramatically 

expand the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur, which “in the admiralty context is not 

totally unique but neither is it routine.” United States v. Baycon Indus., Inc., 804 

F.2d 630, 633 (11th Cir. 1986). 

Res ipsa loquitur—Latin for “the thing speaks for itself”—is an evidentiary

doctrine that permits a trier of fact to infer a defendant’s negligence from

unexplained circumstances.3

 Sweeney v. Erving, 228 U.S. 233, 238–39 (1913); see 

also Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 46, 49 (1948). In other words, it is a form 

of circumstantial evidence. See Sweeney, 228 U.S. at 240; see also W. Page Keeton 

et al., Prosser and Keeton on the Law of Torts § 39, at 243 (5th ed. 1984); 

Restatement (Second) of Torts § 328D cmt. b (Am. Law Inst. 1965). For the 

doctrine to apply, the plaintiff needs to show that “(1) the injured party was without 

fault, (2) the instrumentality causing the injury was under the exclusive control of 

the defendant, and (3) the mishap is of a type that ordinarily does not occur in the 

absence of negligence.” Baycon, 804 F.2d at 633.

3 As it turns out, the phrase itself does not “speak for itself”—the Latin terminology has long 

been criticized for adding unnecessary mystery “to a relatively simple problem” of circumstantial 

evidence. Restatement (Second) of Torts § 328D cmt. a (Am. Law Inst. 1965).

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But before we address the application of the doctrine to the facts of this case, 

we need to decide a threshold question that has divided the district courts in our 

Circuit—whether a maritime passenger who fails to establish the shipowner’s

notice of a dangerous condition can still survive summary judgment by invoking res 

ipsa loquitur. If not, the lack of notice is dispositive: no notice, no negligence. This 

is an open question in our Circuit.

Indeed, district courts have reached conflicting conclusions on the issue. In 

Adams v. Carnival Corp.—a maritime negligence action arising from a deck chair 

collapsing under a passenger—the district court considered the effect of res ipsa 

loquitur on the notice requirement. No. 08-22465-CIV, 2009 WL 4907547, at *1, 

*5 (S.D. Fla. Sept. 29, 2009). The evidence showed that Carnival conducted 

routine inspections of the chairs, and the court concluded that the plaintiff presented 

no evidence that the defect was “even capable of detection.” Id. at *4. There, as 

here, the plaintiff attempted to get around the usual notice requirement with res ipsa 

loquitur. Ultimately, the district court held that the plaintiff’s invocation of res ipsa 

loquitur did “not obviate the need to show that Carnival had notice.” Id. at *5.

“Without specific facts demonstrating, at least, that the purported defect was 

detectable with sufficient time to allow for corrective action,” the case could not 

proceed to a jury. Id.

Since Adams, though, the tide has turned and a majority of the district courts

in this Circuit have reached the opposite conclusion (including in this case).

4

 A 

4 Cases from other jurisdictions take a variety of approaches on res ipsa loquitur and notice. 

Following in Adams’ footsteps, “several cases in the maritime context” support an argument 

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leading example is Millan v. Celebration Cruise Operator, Inc., where a piece of 

the ceiling fell and hit a passenger. 212 F. Supp. 3d 1301 (S.D. Fla. 2015). After

initially distinguishing Adams on its facts, the court went on to conclude that “a 

plaintiff is not required to show the defendant’s actual or constructive notice of the 

defective condition in order to raise a res ipsa loquitur inference of negligence 

under maritime law.” Id. at 1306. In support of that conclusion, the district court

cited our opinion in United States v. Baycon Industries as finding “no requirement 

of actual or constructive notice for res ipsa in maritime negligence action.” Id. at

1305–06 (citing Baycon, 804 F.2d at 632–35). The problem is that Baycon does not 

say that (or even hint at it). Nevertheless, many district court opinions have 

embraced this view in the years that followed, often with little more than a citation 

to Millan itself. See, e.g., Morhardt v. Carnival Corp., 304 F. Supp. 3d 1290, 1296 

(S.D. Fla. 2017) (citing Millan and noting that “courts in this district have held that 

“that a predicate for a res ipsa loquitur finding is that the Defendant had notice of the defective 

condition.” Tillson v. Odyssey Cruises, No. 08-10997-DPW, 2011 WL 309660, at *7 (D. Mass. 

Jan. 27, 2011). Others have concluded that res ipsa loquitur is incompatible with a notice 

requirement. See, e.g., Krivokuca v. City of Chicago, 73 N.E.3d 525, 532 (Ill. App. Ct. 2017) 

(holding that res ipsa loquitur was unavailable when statute required showing actual or 

constructive notice); Mixon v. Wash. Metro. Area Transit Auth., 959 A.2d 55, 60 (D.C. 2008) 

(This “court and others have held that in cases in which notice is an essential element of a 

plaintiff’s claim, res ipsa loquitur is inapplicable because it is inconsistent with the requirement 

of notice.”). There is also considerable support for the opposite proposition. See, e.g., Smith v. 

United States, 860 F.3d 995, 998 n.2 (7th Cir. 2017) (noting that “the inference triggered by the 

res ipsa loquitur doctrine would include the proposition that the defendant had notice of the 

defective nature of the instrumentality that caused the plaintiff’s injury”); Miller v. Cincinnati, 

New Orleans & Tex. Pac. Ry. Co., 317 F.2d 693, 696 (6th Cir. 1963) (“If application of the 

doctrine permits an inference of negligence, such inference must necessarily include all the 

essential elements of negligence, including here an inference that defendant had actual or 

constructive knowledge of the defective condition.”); Burns v. Otis Elevator, Co., 550 So. 2d 21, 

22 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1989) (actual or constructive notice of the defect is “immaterial” if the 

conditions for the res ipsa doctrine are established). 

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a plaintiff in a maritime action based on negligence is not required to prove that the 

shipowner had notice of the defective condition when the doctrine of res ipsa 

loquitur applies”); O’Brien v. NCL (Bahamas) Ltd., 288 F. Supp. 3d 1302, 1314 

(S.D. Fla. 2017).

In resolving the apparent uncertainty within our Circuit about notice and res 

ipsa loquitur, we return to first principles.5

 “Res ipsa loquitur leads only to the 

conclusion that the defendant has not exercised reasonable care, and is not itself any 

proof that he was under a duty to do so.” Keeton et al., supra, § 39, at 255. “It 

does not permit the imposition of liability without fault, and therefore does not help 

to establish the duty of care, which is essential to every negligence case.” 1 Stuart 

M. Speiser, The Negligence Case: Res Ipsa Loquitur § 3:1, at 90 (1972). That 

means the doctrine does not apply unless the alleged negligence is “within the 

scope of the defendant’s duty to the plaintiff.” Restatement (Second) of Torts 

§ 328D (Am. Law Inst. 1965). That same duty requirement is found in the res ipsa 

loquitur doctrines of many states, and at least one federal circuit court has already

stated that it applies in the admiralty context as well. See, e.g., Trigg v. City & 

County of Denver, 784 F.2d 1058, 1060 (10th Cir. 1986) (applying Colorado law);

Biggs v. Logicon, Inc., 663 F.2d 52, 54 (8th Cir. 1981) (noting in an admiralty case 

that res ipsa loquitur only applies if the “negligence is within the scope of the 

defendant’s duty to the plaintiff”); Moon v. Dauphin County, 129 A.3d 16, 26 (Pa. 

5 Our Circuit is not alone in its uncertainty—at least as a general matter. Prosser and Keeton, for 

instance, describe “an uncertain ‘doctrine’ of res ipsa loquitur, which has been the source of 

some considerable trouble to the courts.” Keeton et al., supra, § 39, at 243–44.

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Commw. Ct. 2015); Crum v. Equity Inns, Inc., 685 S.E.2d 219, 229 (W. Va. 2009); 

Linnear v. CenterPoint Energy Entex/Reliant Energy, 966 So. 2d 36, 44 (La. 2007). 

So res ipsa loquitur can allow a jury to infer from circumstantial evidence 

that the defendant must have breached its duty—but it cannot show that a defendant 

must have had that duty in the first place. The Supreme Court’s description of the 

doctrine as “an aid to the plaintiff in sustaining the burden of proving breach of the 

duty of due care” is consistent with that understanding—a duty can only be 

breached if it exists. Commercial Molasses Corp. v. N.Y. Tank Barge Corp., 314 

U.S. 104, 113 (1941) (emphasis added). It would be quite odd to say that a party 

must have had a duty, but for reasons that cannot be discovered. As another court 

put it, “res ipsa loquitur provides no assistance to a plaintiff’s obligation to 

demonstrate a defendant’s duty, that a breach of that duty was a substantial factor in 

causing plaintiff harm, or that such harm resulted in actual damages. However, res 

ipsa loquitur does aid a plaintiff in proving a breach of duty.” Quinby v. 

Plumsteadville Family Practice, Inc., 907 A.2d 1061, 1071 n.15 (Pa. 2006). Well 

put. 

For instance, a trespasser, to whom no duty of care was owed by a 

landowner, may not establish a landowner’s liability for a defective condition by 

relying on res ipsa loquitur. Restatement (Second) of Torts § 328D cmt. j (Am. Law 

Inst. 1965). Similarly, if a statute provides that automobile drivers are only liable to 

their passengers for “wilful, wanton, or reckless conduct,” a passenger relying on 

res ipsa loquitur to show a breach of ordinary care cannot establish liability under 

the higher statutory duty. Id. In other words, res ipsa loquitur “does not eliminate a 

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plaintiff’s obligation to prove that the defendant owed a duty to the plaintiff in the 

first place.” Ausherman v. Bank of Am. Corp., 352 F.3d 896, 901 (4th Cir. 2003).

With this foundation laid, our resolution of the notice issue is

straightforward. If res ipsa loquitur cannot eliminate the duty requirement, it cannot 

eliminate the notice requirement; the two are intertwined in a maritime negligence 

tort. Guevara, 920 F.3d at 720. Maritime passengers are owed a duty of “ordinary 

reasonable care under the circumstances, a standard which requires, as a 

prerequisite to imposing liability, that the carrier have had actual or constructive 

notice of the risk-creating condition.” Keefe, 867 F.2d at 1322; Everett, 912 F.2d at

1358. And we have been clear that the scope of a cruise line’s “duty to protect its 

passengers is informed, if not defined, by its knowledge of the dangers they face 

onboard.” K.T. v. Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd., 931 F.3d 1041, 1044 (11th Cir. 

2019). 

The Baycon case, no matter how frequently it is cited, does not change that 

equation. In fact, it does not even use the term notice or explicitly consider the 

issue before us today. Instead, Baycon deals with shipowner liability for sunken 

vessels. Baycon, 804 F.2d at 631–32. The suit was brought under the Rivers and 

Harbors Act of 1899, which imposed a duty on shipowners to not “voluntarily or 

carelessly” sink a vessel. Id. at 631, 633 n.5 (citation omitted). Because the fortyyear-old, long-idle ship in that case sunk on a clear and calm night, we allowed the 

doctrine of res ipsa loquitur to supply the inference that its sudden sinking was 

caused by negligence. Id. at 634. That is all. 

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Even so, district courts in this Circuit have sometimes concluded—perhaps 

from the lack of any discussion about notice—that Baycon demonstrates that res 

ipsa loquitur eliminates any notice requirement. But that is just not right. To begin, 

though Baycon does not specifically address notice, the Court’s discussion of the 

dredge’s age, the length of time since it had been in service, and the preparation for 

travel without assessing “the condition of the external hull below the water line” 

rings in the tones of constructive notice. Id. And more to the point, absent so much 

as a word about notice in that earlier precedent on statutory negligence for sunken 

vessels, we cannot jump to the conclusion that res ipsa loquitur obviates the wellknown notice requirement for cruise ship negligence cases brought by passengers. 

* * *

In sum, a plaintiff who relies on res ipsa loquitur to show a breach of duty

still bears the burden of proving that a duty existed in the first place. And because 

notice is an integral part of duty, a passenger who relies on res ipsa loquitur bears 

the burden of showing that the cruise line had notice. As it applies to this case,

then, the doctrine does not help Tesoriero. Carnival’s duty was to protect Tesoriero 

from dangerous conditions that it was aware of or should have been aware of. But 

as we have already explained, Tesoriero’s own evidence shows that the chair’s 

defect was hidden. Because res ipsa loquitur has no effect on our duty analysis,

Tesoriero’s failure to establish Carnival’s actual or constructive notice is fatal to her 

case. And that is true whether or not res ipsa loquitur would otherwise apply to a 

broken chair fact pattern—a question we need not consider given our resolution of 

the notice issue.

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So, although we conclude that the district court erred by holding that res ipsa 

loquitur obviates the notice requirement, we ultimately reach the same result: 

Tesoriero’s failure to prove that Carnival had notice cannot be cured by her reliance 

on res ipsa loquitur.

C.

Finally, we consider Tesoriero’s argument that Carnival spoliated evidence 

by disposing of her broken cabin chair. She maintains here, as she did below, that 

Carnival should be sanctioned with an adverse inference that the cruise line had 

notice of the defect—an inference that would defeat its motion for summary 

judgment.

The district court declined to impose Tesoriero’s requested sanction because, 

in its view, Carnival did not reasonably anticipate litigation, and therefore did not 

have a duty to preserve the chair. This was incorrect, and the district court’s 

reasoning is undermined by Carnival’s own admission. During discovery, in its 

response to a request for admissions under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 36, 

Carnival admitted that it anticipated litigation “immediately after the incident was 

reported.” “A matter admitted under this rule is conclusively established unless the 

court, on motion, permits the admission to be withdrawn or amended.” Fed. R. Civ. 

P. 36(b). Because the record does not indicate that Carnival’s admission was 

withdrawn or amended, we must conclude that the district court erred in holding 

that Carnival did not anticipate litigation. 

But anticipation of litigation is not the standard for spoliation sanctions—

bad faith is. So even though the district court incorrectly concluded that Carnival 

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did not anticipate litigation, the court’s decision not to impose sanctions for 

spoliation would still be appropriate absent evidence that Carnival acted in bad 

faith. And even if bad faith were shown, the court’s decision not to impose 

sanctions would be appropriate if “the practical importance of the evidence” was 

minimal. Flury, 427 F.3d at 945; cf. Green Leaf Nursery v. E.I. DuPont De 

Nemours & Co., 341 F.3d 1292, 1308 (11th Cir. 2003) (no spoliation claim under 

Florida law without a “significant impairment in the ability to prove the lawsuit”); 

Walter v. Carnival Corp., No. 09-20962-CIV, 2010 WL 2927962, at *2 (S.D. Fla. 

July 23, 2010) (evidence must be “crucial to the movant being able to prove its 

prima facie case or defense” to establish spoliation). We “may affirm for any 

reason supported by the record, even if not relied upon by the district court.” Lage, 

839 F.3d at 1009.

Spoliation is “defined as the destruction of evidence or the significant and 

meaningful alteration of a document or instrument.” Green Leaf Nursery, 341 F.3d 

at 1308 (11th Cir. 2003) (quotation marks and citation omitted). In some 

circumstances, a party’s “spoliation of critical evidence may warrant the imposition 

of sanctions.” Flury, 427 F.3d at 945. Because spoliation is an evidentiary matter, 

“federal law governs the imposition of spoliation sanctions.” Id. at 944. Sanctions 

for spoliation may include “(1) dismissal of the case; (2) exclusion of expert 

testimony; or (3) a jury instruction on spoliation of evidence which raises a 

presumption against the spoliator.” Id. at 945. 

When deciding whether to impose sanctions, a number of factors are 

relevant: “(1) whether the party seeking sanctions was prejudiced as a result of the 

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destruction of evidence and whether any prejudice could be cured, (2) the practical 

importance of the evidence, (3) whether the spoliating party acted in bad faith, and 

(4) the potential for abuse if sanctions are not imposed.” ML Healthcare Servs., 

LLC v. Publix Super Mkts., Inc., 881 F.3d 1293, 1307 (11th Cir. 2018) (citing 

Flury, 427 F.3d at 945). 

Spoliation sanctions—and in particular adverse inferences—cannot be 

imposed for negligently losing or destroying evidence. Indeed, “an adverse 

inference is drawn from a party’s failure to preserve evidence only when the 

absence of that evidence is predicated on bad faith.” Bashir v. Amtrak, 119 F.3d 

929, 931 (11th Cir. 1997). And bad faith “in the context of spoliation, generally 

means destruction for the purpose of hiding adverse evidence.” Guzman v. Jones, 

804 F.3d 707, 713 (5th Cir. 2015). This consideration is key in evaluating bad faith

because the party’s reason for destroying evidence is what justifies sanctions (or a 

lack thereof). “Mere negligence is not enough, for it does not sustain an inference 

of consciousness of a weak case.” Vick v. Tex. Emp’t Comm’n, 514 F.2d 734, 737 

(5th Cir. 1975) (citation omitted).

6

 

Some of our earlier cases illustrate the difference between bad faith and 

mere negligence. In Bashir v. Amtrak, we held on summary judgment that the 

unexplained absence of a train’s speed record tape did not warrant an adverse 

inference that the train was traveling at an excessive speed when it struck and killed 

a pedestrian. 119 F.3d at 931. We would “not infer that the missing speed tape 

6 In Bonner v. City of Prichard, 661 F.2d 1206 (11th Cir. 1981) (en banc), this Court adopted as 

binding precedent all of the decisions of the former Fifth Circuit handed down prior to the close 

of business on September 30, 1981.

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contained evidence unfavorable to appellees unless the circumstances surrounding 

the tape’s absence indicate bad faith, e.g., that appellees tampered with the 

evidence.” Id. Because plaintiffs produced no evidence that the train company 

purposefully lost or destroyed the tape, we concluded that there was no showing of

bad faith. And finding no bad faith, we declined to impose spoliation sanctions

against the train company, which had already produced significant evidence that the 

train was not exceeding the statutory speed limit. Id. at 931–32.

In contrast, bad faith was evident, and spoliation sanctions were appropriate,

in Flury v. Daimler Chrysler Corp. 427 F.3d at 944–47. There, the plaintiff sued a 

vehicle manufacturer alleging that he was injured when his car’s airbags did not 

inflate during a crash. Id. at 940. Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, the defendant 

sent a letter requesting the location of the vehicle so that it could conduct an 

inspection. Id. at 941–42. The plaintiff did not respond to the letter. Although he 

was “fully aware that defendant wished to examine the vehicle,” he “ignored 

defendant’s request and allowed the vehicle to be sold for salvage without 

notification to defendant of its planned removal.” Id. at 945. It is no surprise that 

we found bad faith on those facts.

But the facts here are different, and Tesoriero has not established that 

Carnival’s failure to preserve the chair rose to the level of bad faith. Nothing in this 

record indicates that Carnival disposed of the broken chair in a manner inconsistent 

with its policies or that the policies themselves somehow establish bad faith.

7

 And 

7 It is unclear to us how—as the dissent suggests—three district court cases that declined to offer 

any relief based on spoliation or discarding evidence in accordance with Carnival’s policies

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unlike the plaintiff in Flury, Carnival cannot be said to have been “fully aware” of 

Tesoriero’s desire to further inspect the chair. See Flury, 427 F.3d at 945; see also

Calixto v. Watson Bowman Acme Corp., No. 07-60077-CIV, 2009 WL 3823390, at 

*16 (S.D. Fla. Nov. 16, 2009) (concluding that bad faith can be established by 

circumstantial evidence only when the “act causing the loss cannot be credibly 

explained as not involving bad faith by the reason proffered by the spoliator”). 

The record shows that the cabin steward came to Tesoriero’s cabin soon 

after the accident to remove and replace the broken chair. The steward was not 

there to investigate the accident, but simply to replace the chair. Of course, as the 

housekeeping manager aboard the Carnival Splendor explained, if Tesoriero had 

requested that the chair be saved, the steward would have done so. He also would 

have done so if the security department had requested retention. But without a 

request from Tesoriero or the security department, the chair was taken to 

maintenance for repair. When the maintenance department could not repair it, the 

chair was disposed of.

Even if the disposal of the chair were somehow improper, we do not see how 

it would give rise to anything more than an act of mere negligence. The security 

department at Carnival is responsible for investigating accidents and preserving 

evidence. Again, Tesoriero offers no evidence that she ever requested that the chair 

be preserved. Nor was the security department informed by the medical staff that a 

should persuade us that sanctions are appropriate here. Dissenting Op. at 11–12. The point only 

sharpens when we consider that two out of the three cases involved collapsing chairs. See 

Walter v. Carnival Corp., No. 09-20962-CIV, 2010 WL 2927962 (S.D. Fla. July 23, 2010); 

Hickman v. Carnival Corp., No. 04-20044-CIV, 2005 WL 3675961 (S.D. Fla. July 11, 2005).

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passenger was injured seriously enough to require an investigation. Under 

Carnival’s policy, injuries that only require first aid are classified as “nonreportable” and do not require an accident report and an investigation by the 

security department. By all accounts, on the ship, the injury to Tesoriero’s arm 

appeared minor.8

 Her arm was not broken and was only treated with basic first 

aid—ice, a sling, and Tylenol.9

In short, nothing in the record smacks of bad faith. Under these facts, 

Carnival’s explanation reasonably suggests that the chair was not destroyed to hide 

adverse evidence. At most, Tesoriero has provided evidence that Carnival’s

shipboard medical staff were negligent in not anticipating that her injury could be 

more serious than it appeared. Mere negligence in losing or destroying evidence is 

not enough to warrant sanctions. Bashir, 119 F.3d at 931. And the right hand not 

talking to the left is not the same thing as the right hand telling the left to destroy 

evidence. Accordingly, we conclude that the district court properly declined to 

draw an adverse inference from Carnival’s failure to retain the chair.

8 The dissent’s quote from Tesoriero’s independent medical examination that her initial x-ray 

“was read as a hairline fracture” (by whom, he does not say, and we do not know) does not 

change this fact. Dissenting Op. at 10. Tesoriero does not argue, even once, that her arm was 

broken. According to her own testimony, she was told it was not broken on the ship, she was 

told it was not broken on land, and her arm was, in fact, not broken. She was diagnosed with 

medial epicondylitis and ulnar neurapraxia—a condition that she describes as “tennis elbow”—

and Tesoriero does not dispute this conclusion. At this point, of course, we have no doubt that 

her injury turned out to be serious. 

9 The dissent suggests that this treatment, because it was provided by a physician instead of a 

layperson, is not really first aid. Dissenting Op. at 8–9. In the context of Carnival’s policy, 

however, first aid refers to the type of care provided, not on who is providing the treatment. We 

have no hesitation concluding that ice, a sling, and Tylenol together are nothing more than 

simple first aid in the context of this policy. The fact that an x-ray was taken, as a diagnostic 

step, to confirm the absence of a fracture does not move the needle.

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To be sure, we would have little trouble affirming sanctions against Carnival 

if the factual circumstances were slightly different. For example, if Tesoriero’s arm 

had been visibly fractured, it would be hard for Carnival to convince us that the

decision not to report the injury to security was reasonable, or in keeping with its 

ordinary policy. Similarly, if there were any evidence that Tesoriero requested that 

the chair be preserved, we would be highly skeptical of a subsequent claim that the 

chair was disposed of pursuant to a routine policy. In both of those circumstances, 

the inference that the chair was destroyed to hide adverse evidence would be much 

stronger than it is here.

We will briefly add that even if there were evidence to somehow support a 

finding of bad faith, that would not justify the leap that the dissenting opinion takes. 

To begin, no party has cited a persuasive case to support a presumption of notice as 

a spoliation sanction, and the one identified by the dissent falls short.

10 But even 

more critically, we disagree with the dissent’s view that “the practical importance 

of the evidence” supports sanctions in this case. Flury, 427 F.3d at 945; ML 

Healthcare Servs., LLC, 881 F.3d at 1307. Here, even if the chair had been 

10 We note a few things about the exemplar magistrate judge order cited by the dissent as an 

example of spoliation leading to an inference-of-notice sanction. First, the sanction imposed was 

the “least-severe sanction available,” and was a “rebuttable, permissible adverse inference that 

the destroyed evidence would have demonstrated the existence of a dangerous condition” that the 

defendant knew or should have known about. In re the Complaint of Boston Boat III, LLC, 310 

F.R.D. 510, 523 (S.D. Fla. 2015) (parenthetical mark omitted). And that light-touch sanction 

was imposed in a case that involved dramatic evidence of bad faith: for starters, the defendant 

destroyed critical evidence well after litigation began. Not only that, but the defendant’s attorney 

personally observed and failed to stop ongoing destruction, the plaintiff’s attorney was not timely 

notified of the destruction, and the defendant presented inconsistent explanations for why the 

evidence was destroyed. Id. at 517–23. The differences between those facts and the ones in this 

case speak for themselves. Indeed, nothing in this case would preclude the sanction applied in 

that one. 

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preserved, it is not clear what evidence of Carnival’s notice could be deduced from 

the already-broken piece of furniture. Joseph Tesoriero testified that there was no 

outwardly visible defect, Tesoriero herself noticed no problem when she moved the 

chair back from the vanity, and the photographic evidence confirms that the pegand-hole assembly—as well as the state of the glue holding it together—would have 

been obscured before the accident. In light of the evidence, and given Tesoriero’s 

failure to avail herself of Carnival’s offer to inspect an identical unbroken cabin 

chair from the Splendor, we are unpersuaded that her ability to inspect the broken 

chair would have been so important to the notice issue as to warrant sanctions. We 

also note our disagreement with our dissenting colleague’s apparent view that 

because evidence of notice would be necessary for Tesoriero to show a prima facie 

case of negligence, it must mean that the chair would have provided the evidence. 

Dissenting Op. at 18–19. Respectfully, we fail to see why one leads to the other; 

while notice has not been shown here, it is not because the chair is missing. 

IV.

In conclusion, Tesoriero did not establish that Carnival had actual or 

constructive notice that the chair was dangerous. This is fatal to her case. Her 

failure to establish the duty element of her negligence claim cannot be cured by her 

invocation of the res ipsa loquitur doctrine. And because she has not shown that 

Carnival committed sanctionable spoliation of evidence, her case is not saved 

through an adverse inference sanction. Accordingly, although we disagree with the 

reasoning of the district court in some respects, we reach the same result.

AFFIRMED. 

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ROSENBAUM, Circuit Judge, dissenting:

When Irina Tesoriero boarded the Carnival Splendor to enjoy some special 

family time, she never expected the costs of her trip to include two surgeries and 

numerous doctor and physical-therapy appointments totaling more than $120,000 in 

medical bills. Nor did Tesoriero realize that her cruise would cost her much of the 

use of her dominant right arm and hand. But that’s the price that Tesoriero has paid 

because a chair on the Splendor collapsed as she tried to sit on it.

This case is about who should pay for Tesoriero’s damages. Under the law, 

of course, if Carnival was not negligent, it is entitled to a judgment in its favor, and 

Tesoriero must shoulder the burden. On the other hand, if Carnival was negligent, 

then it has a legal obligation to pay for Tesoriero’s reasonable damages. 

But we will never know whether Carnival was negligent because Carnival 

destroyed the chair that caused Tesoriero’s injuries. So conveniently for Carnival, 

there is no evidence that Carnival had notice of the chair’s dangerous condition. The 

panel opinion excuses Carnival’s destruction of evidence by just accepting 

Carnival’s word that it did not destroy the chair in bad faith. And the panel opinion 

does so even though Carnival has previously destroyed evidence in other cases and 

has been warned by a federal court that its destruction of evidence could result in 

sanctions, Carnival’s so-called evidence-preservation procedures are designed to 

ensure that evidence will be destroyed in at least some cases and in fact have 

repeatedly resulted in the destruction of relevant evidence, and Carnival has failed

28

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to follow its own evidence-preservation procedures in several cases, including this 

one. 

To make matters worse—and in stark contrast to how Carnival allowed the 

chair here to be destroyed—Carnival calculatedly preserved evidence favorable to it 

from the moment Tesoriero reported her fall onboard the Splendor. 

For these reasons and others I explain below, I respectfully disagree with the 

panel opinion. The record here raises a genuine issue of material fact concerning 

whether Carnival destroyed the chair in bad faith. 

And if a jury were to conclude that Carnival had, in fact, disposed of the chair 

in bad faith, Tesoriero would be entitled to an inference that the chair was evidence 

favorable to her and detrimental to Carnival. In particular, that inference could 

establish that Carnival had notice of—that is, it knew or should have known about—

the unsafe condition of the chair. 

After all, Carnival testified that it repairs broken chairs when possible. ECF 

No. 39-1 at 19-20.1

 So an examination of the chair at issue here might have revealed 

a faulty repair, or it could have shown that the type of defect that occurred here has 

happened before on the very same chair. It also might have suggested that if, in fact, 

as Carnival testified, its employees conducted proper daily inspection of the 

furniture, Carnival should have known about the chair’s defect through that program. 

1 For reasons of transparency, I include pincite references to the evidence of record. That 

way, anyone who wishes to follow along from their armchair may evaluate firsthand the evidence 

I summarize. References are to the district-court ECF number and the CM/ECF-imprinted page 

number, except where evidence consists of deposition transcripts. In those cases, references are 

to the page numbers of the deposition transcript, since four deposition transcript pages appear on 

each CM/ECF-numbered page.

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ECF No. 39-1 at 47-48. Any of these outcomes would have provided evidence that 

Carnival had notice of the chair’s dangerous condition. And if Tesoriero could have 

shown an issue of fact concerning notice, her claim would have survived summary 

judgment. In short, this record raises a genuine issue of material fact concerning 

whether Carnival destroyed the chair in bad faith, and that, in turn, necessarily means 

that it raises a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Carnival had notice of the 

defect in the chair that injured Tesoriero.

For that reason, Tesoriero is entitled to have a jury decide whether it believes

Carnival’s version of the story. So I would vacate the grant of summary judgment 

and remand for a trial. Because the panel opinion erroneously allows a judge 

(without so much as an evidentiary hearing), instead of a jury, to weigh credibility 

on the paper record and resolve this genuine issue of material fact—whether 

Carnival destroyed the defective chair in bad faith—I respectfully dissent.

I.

The panel opinion correctly sets forth the legal principles concerning 

spoliation. But it’s worth emphasizing that the summary-judgment standard applies 

equally to spoliation-related facts and other facts material to the resolution of the 

legal issues before the district court. After all, “‘bad faith’ is a question of fact like 

any other.” Bracey v. Grondin, 712 F.3d 1012, 1019 (7th Cir. 2013) (citation and 

internal quotation marks omitted). 

So we must view the spoliation-related evidence and any reasonable 

inferences from it in the light most favorable to Tesoriero, since she is the nonmoving party. See Al-Rayes v. Willingham, 914 F.3d 1302, 1306 (11th Cir. 2019). 

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That means that if a genuine dispute of material fact exists over bad faith, and a 

finding of bad faith would support an adverse inference against Carnival about a fact 

material to the resolution of the merits here, summary judgment must be denied. As 

I explain below, that’s exactly the situation here.

My disagreement, then, lies with the panel opinion’s statement of the facts 

and its application of spoliation law to those facts. Once we consider all the 

evidence—something the panel opinion did not do—we must conclude that the 

evidence raises a material issue of fact about whether Carnival destroyed the chair 

in bad faith. Specifically, a reasonable jury could find that Carnival devised and 

retained policies and procedures designed to result in the destruction of material 

evidence in at least some cases, or it created conditions that made compliance with 

its evidence-preservation policies and procedures unlikely, or both. 

If a jury reached any of these conclusions, it reasonably could find that 

Carnival destroyed the chair here in bad faith. And if a jury made that finding, 

Tesoriero would be entitled to an adverse inference that Carnival destroyed the chair 

because an examination of it could have provided evidence that Carnival knew or 

should have known of the chair’s defective condition—a crucial part of Tesoriero’s 

prima facie case of negligence against Carnival.

A.

I begin with a little background against which we must view Carnival’s 

policies and procedures covering the preservation of material evidence involved in 

an onboard injury. As the panel opinion notes, Carnival conceded in its responses 

to Tesoriero’s requests for admissions that “immediately after the incident was 

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reported [by Tesoriero while onboard the Splendor, Carnival] anticipated litigation 

arising from the accident.” ECF No. 65 at 25, 29. Indeed, as Monica Petisco, 

Carnival’s corporate litigation representative, admitted, “anytime anything happens 

onboard, [Carnival] anticipate[s] litigation.” ECF No. 39-2 at 24. 

That is certainly clear from the Passenger Injury Statement form that Carnival 

requires its guests to fill out in their own handwriting as soon as they seek medical 

attention onboard. See ECF No. 44-8. That Carnival demands the injured passenger 

prepare the form in her own handwriting conveniently renders the form an admission 

by the passenger for future-litigation evidentiary purposes. See United States v. 

Williams, 837 F.2d 1009, 1014 (11th Cir. 1988). The form also seeks to seal the 

passenger into the details surrounding the injury, likely before all details are known. 

For example, in addition to questions about where and when an injury 

occurred and how “in detail” it happened, the form asks the passenger to state what 

she “believe[s] caused this accident” and “what [she] could have done to avoid the 

accident.” Id. Then the form requires the guest to identify all witnesses to the 

accident, whether the guest uses glasses or contact lenses and whether the guest was 

wearing them at the time of the accident, and “[w]hat kind of shoes” the guest was 

wearing when the accident happened. Id. 

Put simply, the Passenger Injury Form appears designed to preserve for 

Carnival’s benefit, from the instant an injury occurs, all evidence from the passenger 

that might assist Carnival in future litigation. Indeed, the specific information the 

questions seek suggests that Carnival has learned much from its past litigation about 

the evidence most helpful to it in litigation. 

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Of course, there is nothing inherently wrong with that. But those steps differ 

strikingly from Carnival’s policies and actual practices concerning preservation of 

material tangible evidence that might hurt Carnival and help a passenger in future 

litigation. And a reasonable jury might find that fact bears on whether Carnival, in 

good faith, has developed and executes its policies and procedures to preserve 

material tangible evidence.

B.

With this in mind, I review Carnival’s applicable policies and procedures. 

According to Carnival’s corporate representatives, Carnival’s security department is 

ultimately responsible for maintaining material tangible evidence. ECF No. 39-2 at 

48; ECF No. 39-1 at 42. Yet Carnival’s security department does not even become 

involved in deciding whether to preserve such evidence unless an accident report is 

filed. ECF No. 39-2 at 48. According to Petisco, Carnival’s litigation representative, 

an accident report can be filed in two circumstances. First, a guest can “request that 

[Carnival] create an accident report.” Id. And, second, Carnival “entrusts . . . the 

[ship’s] doctor to make the determination between reportable or non-reportable 

[accidents],” based on whether an injury requires “[a]nything beyond first aid.” Id.

at 48-49.

The panel opinion simply assumes without any analysis that these policies are 

reasonable. But on their face, these policies increase in three ways the likelihood 

that material evidence will be discarded. Indeed, as Carnival well knows, history 

has proven that true. Carnival’s policies have previously resulted in the destruction 

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of material evidence. And, in fact, at least one district court has warned Carnival 

that a pattern of discarding material evidence could support spoliation sanctions.

1.

I begin by identifying the three ways Carnival’s policies meaningfully 

increase the odds that Carnival will destroy material evidence. First, Carnival’s 

housekeeping process has no mechanism requiring housekeeping employees to 

check with the security department before discarding broken furniture from a guest’s 

room. Rather, when furniture in a guest’s room breaks, Carnival’s policy requires 

housekeeping staff to immediately remove and replace the object in question—even 

if, as happened here, housekeeping removes the item while the injured passenger 

remains in the room and waits for help. ECF No. 39-1 at 41-42. 

Once the broken piece is removed, it is taken to be repaired. Id. at 42. If the 

furniture cannot be fixed, it is “usually disposed” of. Id. That does not happen if—

and only if—Carnival’s security department affirmatively intervenes and preserves 

the piece. See id. So unless the security department jumps in to save evidence before 

the housekeeping department throws it out, evidence is discarded. But of course, the 

security department does not intercede if an accident report is not filed. 

Second, and compounding this problem, Carnival’s shipboard processes 

falsely cause guests to believe that they have made an accident report when they 

seek medical attention from the ship’s doctor. As I have noted, when a guest visits 

the ship’s doctor to address an injury, she must fill out a Carnival document called 

“Passenger Injury Statement.” Besides the other questions the thorough form lists, 

it asks, “Date [accident] reported,” “Name of staff member accident reported to,” 

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“Time reported,” and “If not reported immediately, please explain why?” ECF No. 

44-8. These questions suggest that a passenger can officially report an accident to 

any “staff member” and that the passenger has officially reported her injury to 

Carnival when she fills out the Passenger Injury Statement. So a passenger has no 

reason to ask whether she must do anything further to make an official report to 

Carnival to trigger the security department’s preservation of material evidence. 

Some might say this form lulls passengers into a false sense of security that they 

have fully reported the incident.

Third, Carnival’s policy leaving it to the discretion of the ship’s doctor to 

decide whether an accident report should be filed (and the evidence thus preserved), 

ensures that accident reports will not be filed in at least some cases where evidence 

should be maintained. Carnival’s policy calls for the ship’s doctor to prepare an 

accident report only when the doctor must provide more than first aid. But Carnival 

does not define what it means by “first aid.” Rather, that is up for interpretation by 

each individual doctor.2

 

2 Standard references do not uniformly define the term “first aid.” For example, a medical 

dictionary defines “first aid” as “[i]mmediate assistance administered in the case of injury or 

sudden illness by a bystander or other layperson, before the arrival of trained medical personnel.” 

First Aid, Stedman’s Medical Dictionary (28th ed. 2006). A non-medical dictionary defines “first 

aid” as “emergency and sometimes makeshift treatment given to someone (as a victim of an 

accident) requiring immediate attention where regular medical or surgical care is not available.” 

First Aid, Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged (2020), https://

unabridged.merriam-webster.com/ (last visited Mar. 25, 2020). Setting aside the fact that a doctor 

technically does not render “first aid” under either definition, these definitions do not set forth 

medical standards that identify what treatments, procedures, or remedies are necessarily “first aid” 

and what are not. As a result, Carnival’s policy does not clearly delineate when a doctor should 

prepare an accident form.

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And even if we disregard this shortcoming and assume all doctors abide in 

precisely the same way by some (unidentified) universally applicable definition of 

“first aid,” the policy wrongly equates a doctor’s assessment that an injury requires 

no more than first aid with the determination that an injury is not serious and the 

piece of furniture causing it should not be preserved. In fact, as is common 

knowledge, some injuries, at first glance, may appear minor but later manifest 

themselves as severe.

Carnival has also not explained why a policy that depends on the provision of 

“first aid” satisfies its duty to preserve evidence in anticipation of litigation. And 

the relationship between the two is not obvious to me. 

Nor is it obvious to Carnival, since Carnival anticipates litigation “anytime 

anything happens onboard” and preserves evidence favorable to it in every instance, 

regardless of whether the doctor provides only “first aid.” To rubberstamp a policy 

that allows Carnival to treat plaintiff-favorable evidence in its control differently 

invites gamesmanship. Indeed, the policy knowingly results in destruction of 

evidence even though, by requiring the injured guest to fill out the Injury Statement 

Form to receive medical attention, Carnival simultaneously preserves evidence 

favorable to itself, in anticipation of litigation, when a doctor does not file an 

accident report. 

2.

This case demonstrates some of these pitfalls.

First, this case appears to have involved more than first aid, but according to 

Carnival, the doctor did not file an accident report. Here, the doctor took X-rays of 

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Tesoriero’s arm. X-ray equipment is not in any standard first-aid kit I’ve ever seen. 

Plus here, the doctor sent the X-rays off the ship to Miami to be read—a process that 

would not be completed until after Tesoriero left the ship. Seeking consultation from 

a specialist physician, like taking X-rays in the first place, seems like more than “first 

aid.” (But then again, we can’t look to Carnival’s policy for guidance on that). If 

the Miami doctor had found a break in Tesoriero’s arm, neither Tesoriero nor the 

ship’s doctor would have known until after the cruise ended. In fact, it is not clear 

the ship’s doctor ever would have learned of the break. But because Carnival left 

filing an accident report to the doctor’s discretion and, according to Carnival, the 

doctor did not do that (more on this later, see infra at 14-15), the chair was 

discarded—before the ship’s doctor even had confirmation about whether 

Tesoriero’s arm was broken. 

As it turned out, according to Tesoriero’s medical records, Tesoriero’s X-ray 

“was read as a hairline fracture.”3

 ECF No. 44-11 at 10. And her follow-up medical 

3 The panel opinion takes issue with this statement because it says that “Tesoriero does not 

argue . . . that her arm was broken.” See Maj. Op. at 25 n.8. True, she doesn’t. But that misses 

the point. The point is that the X-ray taken by the ship’s doctor was read by a medical professional 

as showing a serious enough injury to require more than simple first aid. As for the derivation of 

that statement, it comes from Tesoriero’s independent medical examination report, which a Boardcertified orthopedic surgeon conducted. More specifically, it appears in his review of Tesoriero’s 

medical records from July 1, 2015, four days after the incident. The surgeon reported that a 

medical professional who examined Tesoriero on July 1 stated in Tesoriero’s visit notes that 

Tesoriero “had an [X]-ray on the cruise that was read as a hairline fracture.” ECF No. 44-11 at 

10. Presumably, that refers to the Miami specialist’s reading of the X-ray the ship’s doctor took, 

because the ship’s medical center advised Tesoriero that the ship’s doctor (who told Tesoriero he 

didn’t think her arm was broken but he couldn’t confirm) “didn’t have full expertise to read an Xray, and it would be shipped to Miami, and they would give [Tesoriero] an answer,” which would 

happen after she left the cruise ship. ECF No. 39-3 at 74. The medical facility Tesoriero visited 

on July 1 then took a new X-ray that “revealed no acute fracture.” ECF No. 44-11 at 10. That a 

new X-ray taken four days after the incident did not show an “acute fracture” does not mean that 

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care showed that she had “a focus of T2 hyperintensity at the insertion of the 

common extensor tendon on the lateral humeral epicondyle consistent with a partial 

tear.” Id. As a result, Tesoriero was “unable to drive without pain and unable to 

carry anything.”4

 Id. By any definition, that is certainly an injury requiring more 

than first aid.

Second, even if we assume Tesoriero’s injury required only mere “first aid” 

while she was onboard the Splendor, there can be no question that Tesoriero, in fact, 

suffered a serious injury. I have already recounted the lasting pain the injury has 

caused Tesoriero. And because of her injury onboard the Splendor, Tesoriero had 

to undergo two surgeries, physical therapy, and other medical treatment after her 

cruise ended—resulting in medical expenses of more than $120,000. ECF No. 44-

11 at 14. If the doctor’s failure to file an accident report here was consistent with 

Carnival policy, a reasonable jury could conclude that Carnival’s policy is 

unreasonable, or even that it was created in bad faith. After all, under the panel 

opinion’s analysis, Carnival’s policy that ensures destruction of evidence in these 

an X-ray taken four days earlier did not show a “hairline fracture.” By their nature, “hairline” 

fractures can be difficult to see, and the intervening time between the initial X-ray and the later 

one could have made any “hairline” fracture that may have existed at one time even harder to see, 

to the extent that it continued to exist.

4 Tesoriero also testified,

I can’t carry the garbage. I can’t carry the laundry. I can’t empty or pick up heavy 

pots. Cooking is very restrictive in terms of getting things in and out of an oven. 

Carrying groceries, doing grocery shopping, opening a bottle of water, twisting 

actions. I can’t peel potatoes. I can’t peel carrots. I can’t flip pancakes. I can’t 

put any pressure on—like when you peel an apple.

ECF No. 39-3 at 52.

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circumstances is precisely what shields it from potential liability and any 

consequences of destroying the evidence.

Tellingly, this is not the first case where Carnival has destroyed material 

evidence, supposedly in accordance with its policies. For example, in Morhardt v. 

Carnival Corp., Morhardt used a ship hair dryer, which electrocuted him and burned 

and blackened his hand. 304 F. Supp. 3d 1290, 1292-93 (S.D. Fla. 2017). He 

immediately went to the ship’s infirmary for treatment. Id.at 1293. Yet Carnival 

threw out the hair dryer involved in the incident. Id. at 1297. 

The district court in Morhardt described Carnival’s actions as being “a matter 

of keen concern.” Id. And the court noted that it was “aware of other cases in which 

a plaintiff passenger was injured aboard a Carnival cruise ship and the object that 

purportedly caused the injury was immediately discarded.” Id. at 1297 n.6 (citing 

Walter v. Carnival Corp., No. 09-20962-CIV, 2010 WL 2927962 (S.D. Fla. July 23, 

2010)).5

 Significantly, the court “caution[ed] Carnival against establishing a pattern 

or practice of discarding such objects because such actions could potentially provide 

a basis for spoliation sanctions or liability in the future.” Id.

The panel opinion finds it “unclear how . . . three district court cases that 

decline to offer any relief based on spoliation or discarding evidence should persuade 

[the panel opinion] that sanctions are appropriate here.” Maj. Op. at 23-24 n.7. And 

somehow, it thinks the fact that “2 of the 3 cases involved collapsing chairs” 

5 See also Hickman v. Carnival Corp., No. 04-20044-CIV, 2005 WL 3675961 (S.D. Fla. 

July 11, 2005) (Carnival “almost immediately” repaired bar stool involved in incident, instead of 

preserving it).

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strengthens its view that sanctions are not appropriate here. Id. In my view, the 

opposite is true.

At some point, adherence to policies Carnival knows from past litigation 

result in the destruction of material evidence—especially when Carnival anticipates 

litigation and simultaneously employs policies designed to preserve evidence 

favorable to it—constitutes bad faith. This is particularly the case here because a 

federal court has already expressly warned Carnival that its continuing failure to 

maintain material evidence may result in spoliation sanctions. Surely, the mere fact 

of the existence of Carnival’s policies (that it knows result in destruction of material 

evidence)—even if Carnival complied with them—cannot indefinitely shield 

Carnival from liability and consequences of any type.

Indeed, we suggested as much when we held that one of the factors relevant 

to whether spoliation sanctions should be imposed is “the potential for abuse if 

sanctions are not imposed.” ML Healthcare Servs., LLC v. Publix Super Mkts., Inc., 

881 F.3d 1293, 1307 (11th Cir. 2018) (citing Flury v. Daimler Chrysler Corp., 427 

F.3d 939, 945 (11th Cir. 2005)). Yet to excuse Carnival’s destruction of evidence, 

the panel opinion allows Carnival to continue to hide behind the very policies 

Carnival knows result in destruction of evidence. A jury should be allowed to 

determine whether Carnival has reached the point where its policies that have 

previously proven to result in destruction of evidence can no longer shield it from 

liability.

C.

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Even if a jury rejected the notion that Carnival’s failure to modify its policies 

to prevent material evidence from being destroyed demonstrates bad faith, a 

reasonable jury could still conclude that Carnival failed to ensure compliance with 

its preservation policies here. And a jury that made that finding could conclude that 

Carnival’s failure to abide by its own policies shows bad faith in and of itself. 

To begin with, Tesoriero reported her incident with the chair literally at least 

five different ways to Carnival while she was still onboard her cruise.6

 And after 

she told Dr. Milos Potkonjak, the ship’s doctor, he advised her that a health-andsafety official on the ship would speak with her about her injury. ECF No. 39-3 at 

100-01. Even Carnival conceded in its answers to Tesoriero’s requests for 

admissions that “the accident in this case was reported to the Defendant cruise line 

on the cruise on which the incident occurred.” ECF No. 65 at 25, 29. Yet the chair 

was not preserved.

6 First, Tesoriero’s husband Joseph called Guest Services, reported the incident, and asked 

for immediate medical attention. ECF No. 39-3 at 65-66; ECF No. 44-3 at ¶ 5; ECF No. 39-6 at 

3. Second, when the cabin steward went to the Tesorieros’ room and removed the broken chair, 

the Tesorieros told him that Tesoriero believed she had broken her arm and that they had called 

for help, and they asked him whether a doctor would be coming to the room. ECF No. 39-3 at 67. 

Third, when no doctor arrived at the Tesorieros’ room after half an hour, the Tesorieros went to 

the infirmary to seek medical attention. Id. at 72-73. It was closed, but they found a nurse and 

told her about Tesoriero’s injury. Id. at 73. She got Dr. Potkonjak, and the Tesorieros told him 

about the injury. Id.; ECF No. 44-3 at ¶ 6. Fourth, Dr. Potkonjak gave the Tesorieros a Passenger 

Injury Statement to fill out, which reported the incident yet again. ECF No. 39-3 at 68; see also

ECF No. 44-8. And finally, while still onboard the cruise, Tesoriero also reported her injury to 

the front-desk supervisor on the ship, seeking a document stating that she would get her X-rays 

back. ECF No. 39-3 at 100. Carnival’s responses to Tesoriero’s interrogatories also indicate that 

Tesoriero “interacted with . . . I Care personnel” about her injury, ECF No. 39-6 at 3, but it is not 

clear whether the “I Care personnel” she spoke with included any of the Carnival employees 

previously identified.

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Despite all these reports to Carnival employees in various cruise line 

positions, Carnival made no effort to preserve the chair involved in the injury. And 

though the ship’s doctor advised Tesoriero that a health-and-safety official would 

speak with her concerning her injury, no one ever did. 

This reference to a health-and-safety official appears to be a reference to 

Carnival’s security department. If so, that means the doctor apparently thought he 

was making a report to the security department, even though Carnival has no record 

of any such report. But once again conveniently for Carnival but inconveniently for 

Tesoriero, sixteen days after Tesoriero’s injury occurred, Carnival did not renew Dr. 

Potkonjak’s contract and provided “his last known address” as, in its entirety, 

“Biograd, Croatia.”7

 ECF No. 39-6 at 3. As a result, checking with Dr. Potkonjak 

would appear to be difficult, if not impossible.

If a reasonable jury concluded that the destruction of the chair was a 

consequence of Carnival’s failure to follow its own policies, it could also reasonably 

find that Carnival’s shortcomings resulted from its bad faith. First, the mere fact 

that Tesoriero made five different reports of the incident and the chair was still 

destroyed—even though Carnival anticipated litigation—could reasonably be 

construed as evidence that Carnival acted in bad faith when it failed to follow its 

policies here. 

7 Tesoriero testified that Dr. Potkonjak informed her when she went to the medical center 

that “it was his first day on the ship.” ECF No. 39-3 at 73-74. If that also meant that the date of 

Tesoriero’s injury was Dr. Potkonjak’s first date of employment with Carnival, then Carnival 

employed Dr. Potkonjak for a total of seventeen days.

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Second, that Dr. Potkonjak apparently believed he reported the incident to the 

security department but no record of that was ever made and that he is now 

unavailable for questioning similarly could be viewed as suggesting that Carnival 

acted in bad faith when it threw away the chair.

And finally, this is not the first case where Carnival’s failure to follow its own 

preservation policies has resulted in the destruction of evidence. In Walter, Carnival 

discarded a deck chair that collapsed under the passenger there. 2010 WL 2927962, 

at *1. The chair in that case was lost, even though Carnival employees prepared an 

accident report. Id. at *2. And just over a year ago, Carnival lost CCTV footage of 

a guest’s fall, even though Carnival conceded it had a duty to preserve that evidence. 

Sosa v. Carnival Corp., No. 18-20957-CIV, 2018 WL 6335178, *1 (S.D. Fla. Dec. 

4, 2018). The magistrate judge considering a motion for sanctions against Carnival 

in that case described Carnival’s position as (1) “‘[c]’est la vie’ (‘that’s life,’ or 

‘that’s how things happen’) and (2) ‘stuff happens.’”8

 Id. 

No wonder Carnival has that attitude. Carnival keeps discarding material 

evidence, and that keeps working to its advantage. So why would it ever do anything 

to remedy its compliance with its own policies?

A reasonable jury viewing these facts could conclude that Carnival’s failure 

to strictly adhere to its stated policies betrayed bad faith on Carnival’s part. 

And if a jury reached that conclusion, Tesoriero would be entitled to an 

inference that Carnival destroyed the chair because it would have provided evidence 

8 See also Wilford v. Carnival Corp., No. 17-21992-CIV, 2019 WL 2269155 (S.D. Fla. 

May 28, 2019) (Carnival could not locate and produce X-rays its medical personnel took in an 

onboard medical clinic after the plaintiff slipped and fell onboard).

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that Carnival knew or should have known of the chair’s unsafe condition. Though 

many courts have observed that “courts must not hold the prejudiced party to too 

strict a standard of proof regarding the likely contents of the destroyed evidence 

because doing so allows the spoliators to profit from the destruction of the evidence,” 

In the Matter of: the Complaint of Boston Boat III, LLC, 310 F.R.D. 510, 521 (S.D. 

Fla. 2015) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted) (collecting cases); see 

also Kronisch v. United States, 150 F.3d 112, 128 (2d Cir. 1998), here, it is clear that 

the missing chair could have provided Tesoriero with critical evidence that Carnival 

knew or should have known that its chair was defective.

As I have explained, an examination of the chair that actually collapsed could 

have revealed that Carnival had previously fixed that same chair in the same place. 

Or it could have shown that Carnival had previously repaired another part of the 

chair, which caused stress on the joint that separated. Or it could have betrayed that 

its housekeeping staff did not in fact move and check the furniture daily, as Carnival 

testified it did, because if it did, it should have been aware of the chair’s defective 

condition. Any of these revelations would have shown that Carnival either knew or 

should have known that the chair was not fit for continued use. 

And contrary to the panel opinion’s suggestion, see Maj. Op. at 26-27, it is 

obvious that examination of a similar chair would not reveal any of these things that, 

if they existed, would have occurred in only the chair involved in the incident. 

Joseph’s amateur photographs do not save the day for Carnival, either. See 

id. at 27. They are a poor substitute for the actual chair, which could have permitted 

sampling of the glue that allowed the joint to separate (as well as examination for 

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more than one application of glue, as in a repair of the chair joint) and inspection of 

the rest of the anatomy of the chair to determine whether a repair to a part of the 

chair that was not photographed could have placed extra stress on the part of the 

chair that separated. 

Similarly, I respectfully disagree with the panel opinion that Joseph’s brief 

looking over of the chair while his wife was writhing in pain and the two were 

waiting for medical attention qualifies as a thorough examination that would have 

revealed any of these problems with the defective chair if they existed. See id.

As for the panel opinion’s contention that an examination would not have 

revealed that housekeeping staff knew or should have known of the defect because 

“Tesoriero herself noticed no problem when she moved the chair back from the 

vanity,” id., there is a significant difference between pulling a chair out about a foot 

from a vanity as a prerequisite to grooming, and cleaning and checking furniture as 

part of job duties, as the Carnival staff was charged with doing. Plus, even if we 

assume no difference, Tesoriero’s failure to notice a problem with the chair when 

she pulled it out would not establish that Carnival had not previously repaired that 

same chair or that the chair had not broken before in the same place.

Notice is the one thing that Tesoriero could not establish on summary 

judgment without the benefit of an examination of the chair. Because showing 

notice is an element of her claim for negligence, and because inspecting the chair 

may well have provided the necessary evidence that Carnival knew or should have 

known of the chair’s defective condition, the chair qualifies as crucial evidence.

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The panel opinion suggests that proof of notice is somehow exempt from the 

regular rules that govern the imposition of spoliation sanctions. See id. at 26. But 

the only support it offers for this novel notion is its assertion that “no party has cited 

a persuasive case to support a presumption of notice as a spoliation sanction, and the

one identified by the dissent falls short.” Id.

Most respectfully, the panel opinion is doubly wrong. First, as the panel 

opinion indicates, sanctions for bad faith are appropriate when “the practical 

importance of the evidence” is significant. Maj. Op. at 21 (quoting Flury, 427 F.3d 

at 942). It does not make a difference why the evidence is important; all that matters 

is that the evidence has “practical importance.” Obviously, evidence that proves a 

necessary element of a plaintiff’s prima facie case is “practical[ly] important” when 

the plaintiff cannot establish that element without it. See Palmas & Bambu, S.A. v. 

E.I. Dupont De Nemours & Co., Inc., 881 So. 2d 565, 582 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2004) 

(noting that “where evidence necessary to prove a prima facie case is missing due to 

actions of a party, an essential element of a claim may be presumed” (citing Pub. 

Health Tr. of Dade Cty. v. Valcin, 507 So. 2d 596, 599 (Fla 1987))).9

 Notice is a 

necessary element of Tesoriero’s prima facie case of negligence. And as I have 

explained, an examination of the defective chair may well have proven that Carnival 

knew or should have known of the chair’s condition. So upon a finding of bad faith, 

9 We have explained that while federal law governs the imposition of spoliation sanctions, 

our opinion concerning sanctions can be “informed by [state] law” when, as here, it is consistent 

with federal spoliation principles. Flury, 427 F.3d at 943, 944.

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it would have been appropriate for a court to give a spoliation sanction concerning 

that necessary evidence.10

Second, courts have in fact awarded spoliation sanctions when destroyed 

evidence might have proven notice. In Boston Boat, for example, the court imposed 

a spoliation presumption “that the destroyed evidence would have demonstrated the 

existence of a dangerous condition which Boston Boat knew about, should have 

known about or created.” 310 F.R.D. at 523 (emphasis added). The panel opinion’s 

attempt to distinguish Boston Boat on the dual bases that it imposed only a 

“rebuttable, permissible adverse inference” and that it “involved dramatic evidence 

of bad faith” once again misses the point. The point here is that when a court finds 

that evidence was destroyed in bad faith, spoliation sanctions can appropriately be 

imposed to establish a presumption of notice where the destroyed evidence itself, 

had it not been discarded, could have proven notice. 

Here, for the reasons I have explained, the defective chair that Carnival 

destroyed may well have proven that Carnival had notice of the chair’s dangerous 

condition, had Carnival not discarded the piece of furniture. So given an opportunity 

10 The panel opinion asserts that I espouse the position “that because evidence of notice 

would be necessary for Tesoriero to show a prima facie case of negligence, it must mean that the 

chair would have provided the evidence.” Maj. Op. at 27. Nonsense. No fair reading of my 

dissent could support the panel opinion’s claim. Indeed, as I have explained two other times in 

this dissent, see supra at 29, 44, an examination of the defective chair in this case could have 

yielded evidence that Carnival knew or should have known of the chair’s dangerous condition—

that is, evidence of notice. Those explanations amply demonstrate the practical importance of the 

destroyed chair. See Kronisch, 150 F.3d at 128 (“[C]are should be taken not to require too specific 

a level of proof [because] . . . holding the prejudiced party to too strict a standard of proof regarding 

the likely contents of the destroyed evidence would subvert the prophylactic and punitive purposes 

of the adverse inference, and would allow parties who have intentionally destroyed evidence to 

profit from that destruction.” (citation and internal quotation marks omitted)).

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to evaluate the witnesses and other evidence at trial, a jury reasonably could have 

concluded, upon a sanctions-based presumption instruction, that an inspection of the 

chair would have revealed that Carnival knew or should have known of its dangerous 

condition. Since that is the case, particularly on a motion for summary judgment, 

where we must construe the facts in favor of the non-moving party, Tesoriero has 

established a material issue of fact concerning whether Carnival discarded the chair 

in bad faith.

Because a material question of fact exists as to the bad-faith issue, the district 

court should not have granted summary judgment. Rather, the court should have 

allowed a jury to resolve the bad-faith question of fact, along with all the other 

disputes of relevant fact in the case.11 Vodusek v. Bayliner Marine Corp., 71 F.3d 

148, 157 (4th Cir. 1995) (“We conclude that the district court acted within its 

discretion in permitting the jury to draw an adverse inference if it found that Vodusek 

or her agents caused destruction or loss of relevant evidence. Rather than deciding 

the spoliation issue itself, the district court provided the jury with appropriate 

guidelines for evaluating the evidence.”); Kronisch, 150 F.3d at 128 (“We believe 

that plaintiff has produced enough circumstantial evidence to support the inference 

that the destroyed MKULTRA files may have contained documents supporting (or 

potentially proving) his claim, and that the possibility that a jury would choose to 

11 At the very least, the district court should have held an evidentiary hearing on the issue 

instead of resolving the material issue of fact against Tesoriero on the papers. Cf. McDonald’s 

Corp. v. Robertson, 147 F.3d 1301, 1311 (11th Cir. 1998) (noting in the context of a motion for 

preliminary injunction that it is an abuse of discretion to fail to hold an evidentiary hearing where 

facts central to a party’s claims are disputed); Oldfield v. Pueblo De Bahia Lora, S.A., 558 F.3d 

1210, 1216 (11th Cir. 2009) (“Because the material facts relating to the personal jurisdiction issues 

were not in dispute, there was no need for an evidentiary hearing.”).

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draw such an inference, combined with plaintiff’s circumstantial evidence, is enough 

to entitle plaintiff to a jury trial.”); United States v. Laurent, 607 F.3d 895, 902 (1st 

Cir. 2010) (“A ‘spoliation’ instruction, allowing an adverse inference, is commonly 

appropriate in both civil and criminal cases where there is evidence from which a 

reasonable jury might conclude that evidence favorable to one side was destroyed 

by the other.” (citing 4 L. Sand et al., Modern Federal Jury Instructions § 75.01 

(instruction 75-7), at 75-16 to -18 (2010))).

The panel opinion simply concludes that Carnival acted consistently with its 

policies and that its policies do not “somehow establish bad faith.” Maj. Op. at 23. 

But for the reasons I have explained, the record viewed in the light most favorable 

to Tesoriero cannot support that conclusion. So vacatur of the district court’s entry 

of summary judgment and remand for trial is warranted here.

II.

Because Tesoriero has shown a material issue of fact with respect to bad faith 

concerning Carnival’s disposal of the chair, summary judgment should not have 

been granted in this case. I therefore respectfully dissent.

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