IAMICELI v. GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION (2008)

In an action, inter alia, to recover damages for personal injuries, the plaintiff appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Putnam County (O'Rourke, J.), dated November 27, 2006, which granted that branch of the motion of the defendant General Motors Corporation which was pursuant to CPLR 3126 to preclude him, on the ground of spoliation of evidence, from introducing evidence in support of his strict products liability claim.

ORDERED that the order is reversed, on the facts and in the exercise of discretion, with costs, and that branch of the motion of the defendant General Motors Corporation which was pursuant to CPLR 3126 to preclude the plaintiff, on the ground of spoliation of evidence, from introducing evidence in support of his strict products liability claim is denied.

 The determination of spoliation sanctions is within the broad discretion of the court (see Denoyelles v. Gallagher, 40 A.D.3d 1027, 834 N.Y.S.2d 868;  Dennis v. City of New York, 18 A.D.3d 599, 600, 795 N.Y.S.2d 615;  Barahona v. Trustees of Columbia Univ. in City of N.Y., 16 A.D.3d 445, 446, 792 N.Y.S.2d 113).   However, under the circumstances, the Supreme Court improvidently exercised its discretion in sanctioning the plaintiff for the spoliation of evidence by precluding him from introducing evidence in support of his strict products liability claim.   The defendant General Motors Corporation (hereinafter GM) failed to demonstrate that the loss of the subject vehicle was the result of intentional or negligent destruction (see Cameron v. Nissan 112 Sales Corp., 10 A.D.3d 591, 592, 781 N.Y.S.2d 661;  O'Reilly v. Yavorskiy, 300 A.D.2d 456, 755 N.Y.S.2d 81).   Furthermore, GM failed to establish that it would be prejudiced in its defense as a result of the loss of the subject vehicle (see Cameron v. Nissan 112 Sales Corp., 10 A.D.3d at 592, 781 N.Y.S.2d 661), which, the plaintiff alleges, was, inter alia, defectively designed (see Lichtenstein v. Fantastic Mdse. Corp., 46 A.D.3d 762, 764, 850 N.Y.S.2d 462;  Lawson v. Aspen Ford, Inc., 15 A.D.3d 628, 629, 791 N.Y.S.2d 119;  Klein v. Ford Motor Co., 303 A.D.2d 376, 377, 756 N.Y.S.2d 271).