The only thing that makes an awkward civil lawsuit even more awkward is an effort to destroy evidence that may be in some way relevant to it.
Laura Wagner of Deadspin.com reports that NFL Media V.P. and executive editor David Eaton recently deleted his Twitter account. Before doing that, he “appears to have” deleted “years’ worth of Twitter interactions with and unfollowing hundreds of accounts of escorts and porn stars.”
Eaton, who essentially supervises all reporters at NFL Media, has not been implicated in the sexual harassment lawsuit filed by former NFLN employee Jami Cantor. But with Cantor’s lawsuit instantly becoming a major national sports story, Eaton likely got nervous about how his Twitter habits could be used against him and his employer as part of a broader effort to show that a sexually-charged atmosphere existed within NFL Media. If one of the higher-level bosses is willing to publicly engage in banter with escorts and porn stars, it’s possible that plenty of inappropriate behavior could be happening right under their noses.
Before Eaton went scorched earth on his Twitter page, the NFL could have made a persuasive argument that any of that evidence is completely irrelevant to the questions raised in Cantor’s case. Eaton’s decision to scrub the Twitter page before scrapping it suggests that Eaton, and maybe others, have reacted to the news of the allegations by destroying evidence — and nothing short of a Col. Nathan Jessup moment makes it easier to prove a case than proof that key employees of the company accused of misconduct reacting o the filing of the case by spoliating potentially relevant proof.