What is an adverse inference?
Generally, an “adverse inference” is a jury instruction from a judge allowing the jury to make a negative inference about certain evidence. This evidence could include both evidence that has been admitted, or even something that cannot be located. A prime example is e-mail. When parties are fighting and e-mail is requested to be produced and, contrary to court orders or standards of business that e-mail cannot be obtained, the party seeking the information can ask the court to allow an “adverse inference” to be made about the inability to obtain the e-mail. I know this is murky, but hope it helps.
