California Court of Appeal

A judgment and award pursuant to a jury verdict in a product liability action against a car maker is affirmed where: 1) evidence and issue preclusion sanctions ordered against defendant for discovery violations were properly imposed before trial; 2) the sanctions were, for the most part, properly applied during trial, and any errors were harmless; 3) the court was entitled to reconsider and vacate its summary adjudication order; 4) there was no error in the imposition of lesser sanctions against plaintiff for failing to preserve certain evidence; 5) a new trial motion based on allegations of juror misconduct was properly denied; and 6) a preemption argument involving federal seat belt regulations was waived.

Appellate Information

• Decided 06/27/2006
• Published 06/27/2006

Judges

• RUBIN, J.

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Shook, Hardy & Bacon and Frank P. Kelly, III, San Francisco;  Lewis, Brisbois, Bisgaard & Smith and Steven R. Lewis;  Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr., Los Angeles, William E. Thomson and J. Christopher Jennings, San Francisco, for Defendant and Appellant., Martin N. Buchanan;  Esner & Chang and Stuart B. Esner, Los Angeles;  Girardi & Keese, Thomas V. Girardi, Los Angeles, Howard B. Miller, Long Beach, and David R. Lira, Los Angeles;  Law Offices of Marvin Kay and Marvin Kay, Los Angeles, for Plaintiffs and Respondents.