A federal magistrate judge has ordered sanctions against the state health department due to their failure to retain emails related to an ongoing lawsuit regarding the alleged mistreatment of thousands of children in the foster care system. Judge Cheryl Eifert stated that there was no evidence of intentional deletion of emails by the state, but she did note that officials at the Department of Health and Human Resources had not taken sufficient measures to safeguard these emails from being deleted by the Office of Technology.
As a result of the sanctions, the state health department will have to pay an undisclosed amount to reimburse plaintiffs for their attorneys’ fees and other related expenses. A news release from the Department of Health Services expressed disagreement with some of the judge’s conclusions but acknowledged the court’s thoughtful deliberation on the matter. The agency also noted its satisfaction with the judge’s rejection of allegations that the department had deliberately failed to preserve emails from former employees.
The court’s decision follows a hearing on January 11th at the federal courthouse in Huntington. The lawsuit was originally filed in 2019 by A Better Childhood, Disability Rights West Virginia, and law firm Shaffer and Shaffer on behalf of thousands of foster children against DHHR and Governor Jim Justice. The plaintiffs argued that the deletion of emails was intentional and that these emails could have provided critical insights into
