Dismissal is an appropriate sanction for spoliation of evidence where the allegedly defective product is lost before a defendant has an opportunity to inspect it, even without evidence of bad faith.

While browsing the defendant retailer’s store, the plaintiff was injured when she sat on a chair that was on display and the chair collapsed. Immediately after the incident, the retailer removed the chair from the sales floor and stored it in an office in anticipation of litigation. Six months later, the chair was placed back on the floor for a storewide inventory, where it was inadvertently sold. The plaintiff subsequently sued the retailer under a theory of negligence, and the retailer filed a joinder complaint against the manufacturer of the chair asserting a product liability claim.

The manufacturer filed several motions in response to the joinder complaint, including a motion for sanctions, arguing spoliation of evidence and seeking dismissal of the joinder complaint. The retailer argued that, because the chair was sold accidentally, the manufacturer could not meet the bad faith requirement for a finding of spoliation. Although the court acknowledged the bad faith requirement, it was persuaded by precedent that draws an exception for a case proceeding under a product liability theory. Under this exception, in a product liability case where the allegedly defective product is completely lost before a party has an opportunity to inspect it, spoliation is appropriate even without evidence of bad faith. In this case, the court found that the exception applied and that the only effective sanction was dismissal of the joinder complaint.

Case Law Alerts, 1st Quarter, January 2015