Gentry v. Toyota Motor Corp., 951640

• Decision Date: 07 June 1996
• Docket Number: No. 951640,951640
• Citation: 471 S.E.2d 485,252 Va. 30
• Parties: Iris GENTRY, etc., et al. v. TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION, et al. Record
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court

Page 485

471 S.E.2d 485

252 Va. 30

Iris GENTRY, etc., et al. v. TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION, et al.

Record No. 951640.

Supreme Court of Virginia.

June 7, 1996.

S. Vernon Priddy, III, Richmond (Margaret F. Hardy, Richmond; Dennis J. Webb, Atlanta, GA; Sands, Anderson, Marks & Miller, Richmond; Webb, Carlock, Copeland, Semler & Stair, Atlanta, GA, on briefs), for appellants.

Christopher C. Spencer, Richmond (Olivia N. Biss, McGuire, Woods, Battle & Boothe, on brief), for appellees.

Present: All the Justices.

STEPHENSON, Justice.

The issue in this appeal is whether the trial court erred in dismissing this action for spoliation of evidence.

On May 17, 1991, Iris Gentry was rendered paraplegic when she lost control of her 1987 Toyota pickup truck and crashed into a ravine in Eden, North Carolina. Although Iris has amnesia as to the events surrounding the accident, an eyewitness testified that the truck's engine had been racing prior to the accident. The witness stated that, when Iris shifted gears, the engine "went wide open," and the truck "accelerated ... started fishtailing" and went off the road.

Iris's attorney employed William Rosenbluth, a purported expert on the sudden acceleration of vehicles, to determine what could have caused the engine to race. Rosenbluth inspected the truck and concluded that a temperature control cable impinged on the accelerator pedal rod and caused the sudden acceleration. Rosenbluth then, without authorization or permission from anyone, removed the temperature control cable by using a hacksaw on the truck's instrument panel. He also removed the accelerator pedal rod.

Thereafter, the Gentrys ¹ sued Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota Japan), Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. (Toyota USA), and Danville Toyota, Inc. (Danville Toyota) (collectively, Toyota), seeking $10,000,000 in damages for bodily injuries sustained by Iris while operating an allegedly defective 1987 Toyota pickup truck. The Gentrys' action was based upon theories of negligence, breach of implied warranties, and strict liability. They alleged that Toyota Japan and/or Toyota USA were negligent in the design, manufacture, and testing of the truck and in failing to warn them of the truck's dangerous and defective condition. The Gentrys also alleged that Danville Toyota was negligent in selling the truck to them in a defective condition, in failing to inspect the truck, and in failing to warn them of the defect.

Based upon answers to interrogatories and Rosenbluth's deposition, Toyota moved to dismiss the action for spoliation of evidence (the Spoliation Motion). Toyota claimed that Rosenbluth had so damaged the truck during the course of his inspection that Toyota was deprived of its right to inspect and test the truck for any evidence of defect and that its ability to defend the action was severely prejudiced.

On April 22, 1993, the trial court conducted an ore tenus hearing on the Spoliation Motion. At the hearing, Toyota's expert, Lee Carr, who had inspected the truck in September 1992, testified he had been "faced with a dilemma" because he could reach "either one of two conclusions." He stated that either (1) the temperature control cable did not interfere with the throttle cable or (2) "there were other conditions present in [the] truck that [he could not] now evaluate [and] that [he could not] now duplicate that did, in fact, cause the [temperature control] cable to come into contact with the throttle pedal assembly." Carr further stated that "[w]hatever those conditions were ... [he could not] identify them and most importantly, if they existed, [he] can't now know what caused them to be present."

After the hearing ended, the Gentrys moved for a stay of consideration of the Spoliation Motion to allow testing of the truck by another expert. They also sought permission "to formulate and serve complete supplemental and amendatory responses to discovery and ... to move the Court to reopen the hearing ... on the [Spoliation Motion] and/or to move for leave to file an amended motion for judgment." By order entered October 12, 1993, the trial court granted the motion.

Thereafter, the Gentrys filed amended interrogatory answers setting forth the anticipated opinions of their new expert, Dr. Melvin K. Richardson. They also moved for leave to file an amended motion for judgment based upon their new expert's findings.

Richardson had inspected the truck in July and November 1993. He concluded that a defect had existed in the design or manufacture of the truck's carburetor. This defect had allowed varnish to accumulate in the "secondary butterfly" valve of the carburetor, causing the valve to stick in the open position and produce the sudden acceleration. Richardson stated that Rosenbluth's actions had not affected or impaired his ability to determine the nature of the defect. Richardson further stated that Rosenbluth's conclusions about the cause of the sudden acceleration were erroneous.

Carr, Toyota's expert, had examined the carburetor in September 1992 and again in March 1995 and found that the carburetor functioned properly. From the eyewitness' observations, Carr proposed yet a third theory regarding how the accident occurred. He theorized that, in response to some mechanical failure such as a "fuel problem" or an "ignition problem," Iris "push[ed] down on the gas." Then, after the mechanical failure resolved, "the engine ... suddenly [had] power," causing the truck to "shoot ahead and ... fishtail." Carr also stated that his...