DECISION ORDER
ORDERED that the order is affirmed insofar as appealed from, with costs.
The determination of the appropriate sanction for spoliation of evidence is within the broad discretion of the Supreme Court ( see Horace Mann Ins. Co. v. E.T. Appliances, 290 A.D.2d 418, 419). Under the particular circumstances of this case, the Supreme Court's determination to impose only the sanction of a negative inference charge, rather than the harsher sanction of striking the respondents' answer, was a provident exercise of its discretion.
SANTUCCI, J.P., S. MILLER, McGINITY and SCHMIDT, JJ., concur.