iMessage can be deleted with no trace. If messages don't exist there, can you assume that they were deleted? That's basically what the judge is saying. What

iMessage can be deleted with no trace. If messages don't exist there, can you assume that they were deleted? That's basically what the judge is saying. What if a company has a deletion policy of 6 months, and someone starts litigation after 2 years, can the judge assume that any evidence was deleted as opposed to not knowing if evidence even existed? Also SOX doesn't pertain here.