The issue here is that companies are not generally required to retain a records indefinitely, and if something was deleted as part of a standard retention polic

The issue here is that companies are not generally required to retain a records indefinitely, and if something was deleted as part of a standard retention policy (instead of specifically because of its contents) the normal "assume the worst" policy doesn't apply. Which is, I think, why lawyers are excited about a default of having a short retention period. On the other hand, litigation generally comes with needing to put your deletion policy on hold, and it sounds like that didn't happen here?