The family of an NCAA football player who tragically died by suicide has been accused of deleting important data from her 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 died.
The champion goalie spilled coffee on a Stanford football player who allegedly sexually assaulted a football teammate, the lawsuit says.
It also said that on the evening of February 28, 2022 – the same night she died – Katie received a formal written notice accusing her of a “breach of the fundamental standard.”
The Meyers believe the school did not provide enough support to Katie when she faced a disciplinary issue surrounding her death.
Katie Meyer’s parents Steve (left) and Gina (right) have criticized Stanford University
Meyer, 22, took her own life in February 2022 after receiving a disciplinary letter
“Defendants should be able to test those allegations,” Stanford argued USA today.
“Given Plaintiffs’ apparent inability to adequately preserve the laptop and Katie’s electronic records, it is unclear whether Defendants will ever be able to do so.”
Stanford has accused the Meyers of “failing to preserve” evidence that could have been on Katie’s laptop.
The couple were ordered to hand over a mirror drive from Katie’s laptop in September 2023.
Meyer’s family is involved in a wrongful death lawsuit against Stanford over her death
Meyer was the goaltender for 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, darkest thoughts – may be relevant to this case.”
The university later said that setting a trial date in the case would be “premature” because they had reason to believe that important evidence had disappeared from the laptop.
The Meyers’ attorney said missing data was not intentionally deleted and was the result of cleaning up iCloud data in accordance with retention policies.
This resulted in “accidental deletion,” they said.
The Meyers’ legal team responded in a filing that Stanford’s “allegations are simply baseless distractions from bringing this case to trial and an improper attempt to harass and falsely discredit the plaintiffs.”
