Public Access to Decision Revealing Evidence Tampering by Honda and Expert Robert Gratzinger - November 3, 2005

[CASE] After a California Superior Court judge sanctioned an expert for deliberately destroying evidence in a car safety case against Honda he sealed the sanctions opinion to facilitate settlement. Trial Lawyers for Public Justice challenged that ruling, arguing that "the public has the right to know about the unethical conduct exposed in this decision." And three years after the original ruling, the judge agreed that the order was improperly sealed and unsealed it.
TLPJ - Press - Public Access to Decision Revealing Evidence Tampering by Honda and Expert Robert Gratzinger - November 3, 2005. The original order (Oct. 2, 2002) and the recent order unsealing it (Oct. 26, 2005) are linked from TLPJ's press release.

The original order related the facts in some detail. Honda's expert, Robert Gratzinger, was examining the car the plaintiff had been riding in to gather evidence about whether she'd been wearing a seatbelt. During his examination, he took out a rag and rubbed out certain "witness" marks on the seatbelt buckle's latch. When plaintiff's attorney told him to stop, he persisted. He took the rag with him and produced a different rag at a hearing on spoliation. Clearly, the judge was appalled.

In the 32-page order, the judge then carefully went over possible sanctions -- monetary fine, limiting the defense that Honda could offer, declaring a mistrial -- and rejected them, concluding that the appropriate sanction was the biggest: holding Honda liable for the injuries and only sending to the jury the question of damages. Honda was also ordered to pay attorneys fees and costs to the plaintiff and the co-defendants.

Categories: experts, evidence, spoliation, sanctions, sealed-records, settlements, cases,