Major CORE Case Updates: Karen Evans Destroyed Records, Judge Issued Partial Summary Judgment in Favor of AFGE

Two orders in the case just came out of Judge Illston's court in the case concerning FEMA's CORE appointment terminations and planned 50% staff reduction.

In the first order, the court found Karen Evans intentionally and illegally shortened the time Signal auto-deleted chats and selectively screenshot the chats - after a discovery order was issued - in an effort to deprive the Plaintiffs of evidence.

As a result Illston ordered

- DHS is barred from any hindsight testimony denying a plan to reduce FEMA staffing, denying DHS's direction over the plan, or denying the plan's implementation via CORE employee separations.

- In all future proceedings, the Court will presume that the lost Signal messages were unfavorable to the defendants and would have served as further evidence of their staffing reduction plan, DHS control, and implementation actions.

- Plaintiffs are awarded attorneys' fees and costs incurred in uncovering and addressing the spoliation. The parties are ordered to meet and confer on the fee amount, with plaintiffs granted leave to file a fee application by October 9, 2026, if no agreement is reached.

In the second order, the judge gave partial summary judgment (ruled as a matter of law) that

-the CORE firings violated the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act (PKEMRA) by usurping FEMA's authority

-the CORE firings and planned 50% staffing cuts were arbitrary and capricious under the Adminitrarive Procedure Act (APA)

The judge therefore ordered the plaintiffs and defendants to negotiate a remedy and identify any unresolved issues by October 9th.