Washington Supreme Court Affirms $8,000,000 Discovery Sanction

In Magaña v. Hyundai Motor America, et al., 220 P.3d 191, (Wash. 2009), the Washington Supreme Court affirmed a default judgment against a car manufacturer for $8,000,000 for discovery violations. The Supreme Court's holding was supported by evidence of willful efforts to frustrate and undermine "truthful pretrial discovery efforts."

Plaintiff Jesse Magaña sustained serious injuries in a car accident in 1997. Magaña was a passenger in a Hyundai Accent that swerved off the road and crashed into several trees. In the accident, Magaña was tragically rendered a paraplegic as he was thrown out of the rear window of the car. Magaña sued Hyundai Motor America for an alleged design defect in the vehicle, which allegedly contributed to his injuries. He also sued the drivers of the vehicle for negligent driving. Magaña prevailed in the jury trial and was awarded over $8,000,000 in damages.

The Court of Appeals in Magaña v. Hyundai Motor Am., 123 Wn. App. 306, 94 P.3d 987 (2004), reversed and remanded for a retrial on the issue of liability, but did not disturb the jury's damages award. Prior to the new trial, Magaña requested that Hyundai update some of its previous discovery requests. Among the discovery was a request for information on all seat back failures in Hyundai vehicles from 1980 to the present. Hyundai objected to this request and only produced limited information on two car models.

Magaña moved for a motion to compel the production of all information related to Hyundai seat back failures on all Hyundai vehicles regardless of the incident date or model of the vehicle. The trial court granted Magaña's motion. Hyundai delayed compliance with the trial court's order until only a few weeks before trial, and only provided limited responses. Magaña moved for a default judgment against Hyundai arguing that Hyundai: (1) failed to comply with production requests; (2) falsely answered interrogatories; and (3) failed to produce documents related to rear impact crash tests. In an evidentiary hearing on sanctions, the trial court imposed a default judgment against Hyundai, finding that the discovery violations were "real and serious." The trial court made the following findings of fact: (1) there was no agreement between the parties to limit discovery; (2) Hyundai falsely responded to Magaña's request for production and interrogatories; (3) Magaña was substantially prejudiced in preparing for trial; and (4) evidence was spoiled and forever lost.

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