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| | Honda is Found Liable After its Defense is Compromised
By Robert Warne - October 11, 2002After being caught tampering with the evidence, American Honda Motor Co., the U.S. subsidiary of Japan's Honda Motor Co. Ltd. was found liable for injuries and damages associated with a car crash that left 17-year-old Sara Davis paralyzed.
The defining moment in the three-month case was when Placer Superior Court Judge James D. Garbolino ruled Oct. 4 that because of Honda’s “deliberate spoliation of evidence” the only issue remaining was to determine the amount of damages to be awarded.
Originally the focus of the case, which began July 9, was whether or not Davis was wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident.
During the defense phase of the trial Honda requested permission to inspect the damaged car.
On Sept. 4, Davis’ attorney Kirk Wolden witnessed Honda’s defense expert Robert Gratzinger rubbing the latchplate of the seat belt with a rag. Wolden attempted to obtain the rag from Gratzinger, but then Honda attorney Paul Cereghini intervened and Gratzinger put the rag into his pocket.
Following the incident, Gratzinger brought the rag into court and gave it to the judge. But the rag was neatly folded and Wolden said that the rag wasn’t in the same condition it was the day before and that it must have been laundered.
The judge then dismissed the jury so that the evidence-tampering incident could be further investigated. The Honda lawyers tried, but were unsuccessful in their attempts to have Judge Garbolino removed as the trial judge on the grounds of bias.
According to the Sacramento Bee, Garbolino concluded that Gratzinger "intentionally" used the rag to "obliterate" pre-existing witness marks that had been observed on the latchplate by Davis' attorneys and crash experts. He concluded that the rag produced the next day was not the same as was used by Gratzinger at the inspection.
The judge also said Honda's attorney, Cereghini, "knowingly prevented" the rag from being preserved at the scene. "This further prevented plaintiffs from preserving the best evidence which would have demonstrated the mechanism by which the seat belt latchplate had been physically altered," the judge wrote, according to the Bee.
Davis who is now 20 was left a quadriplegic after the March 6, 1999, accident, when she was thrown from a car she was riding in as a passenger.
The terms of the settlement were sealed, but are estimated to be over $21 million, which was the figure presented in court that would cover medical expenses and the cost of living for the rest of her life. |
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