The family of an NCAA football star who tragically died by suicide has been accused of deleting key data from his laptop.
Katie Meyer’s parents, Steve and Gina, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Stanford in November 2022, nine months after the 22-year-old’s death.
Champion goalie spilled coffee on a Stanford soccer player who had allegedly sexually assaulted a soccer teammate, lawsuit claims.
It also said Katie received a formal written notice on the evening of February 28, 2022, the same night she died, accusing her of a “fundamental standard violation.”
The Meyers believe the school did not provide adequate support to Katie when she faced a disciplinary matter at the time of her death.
Katie Meyer’s parents, Steve (left) and Gina (right), sharply criticized Stanford University.
Meyer, 22, took his own life in February 2022 after receiving a disciplinary letter.
“Defendants must be able to prove those allegations,” Stanford argued, according to USA today.
“Given plaintiffs’ apparent failure to adequately preserve Katie’s laptop and electronic data, it is unclear whether defendants will ever be able to do so.”
Stanford has accused the Meyers of “failing to preserve” evidence that may have been on Katie’s laptop.
The couple were ordered to hand over a mirror drive of Katie’s laptop in September 2023.
Meyer’s family is involved in a wrongful death lawsuit against Stanford over his death.
Meyer was the goalie for the national champion Stanford Cardinal in 2019
Judge Frederick S. Chung said at the time: “The uncomfortable reality is that much of Katie’s private life, including her deepest and darkest thoughts, may be potentially relevant to this case.”
The university later said setting a trial date in the case would be “premature” because they had reason to believe key evidence had gone missing from the laptop.
The Meyers’ attorney said the missing data was not intentionally deleted and was the result of a data deletion from iCloud in accordance with retention policies.
This resulted in an “accidental deletion,” they said.
The Meyers’ legal team responded in a filing that Stanford’s “allegations are simply unfounded distractions from bringing this case to trial and an inappropriate attempt to unfairly harass and disparage plaintiffs.”