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Gorostieta v. Parkinson12/15/2000
First District, Logan Dep't The Honorable Clint S. Judkins
Jaime and Marie Gorostieta (the "Gorostietas"), as guardians ad litem for their daughter Dalinda Gorostieta, appeal from a judgment rendered in regard to their daughter. The Gorostietas argue that the trial court erred in not allowing Marie Gorostieta to testify regarding the amounts contained in medical bills incurred as a result of Dalinda's injury, and also in its ruling regarding jury instructions. We affirm.
BACKGROUND
"We view the facts in the light most favorable to the jury verdict and recite them accordingly." State v. Loose, 2000 UT 11, 2, 994 P.2d 1237. On March 21, 1994, at approximately 4:00 p.m., Rhonda Parkinson was returning home from work and, as was her usual custom, was driving down 300 South in Wellsville, Utah. Dalinda Gorostieta and several other children had just disembarked from their school bus and were walking together in the middle of 300 South as they usually did. Parkinson approached the children slowly from behind and, without sounding her horn, drove through them. As the children parted to allow the car through, Dalinda appeared to become confused as to which way to turn, and Parkinson's car ran over her foot. Dalinda was twelve years old at the time.
On August 10, 1995, the Gorostietas filed a complaint for negligence and served Parkinson with a first request for discovery, including requests for admissions and production of documents. Parkinson answered the Gorostietas' complaint on September 7. On September 15, the Gorostietas served a second set of discovery, including interrogatories and requests for admissions and production of documents. Parkinson served the Gorostietas with discovery including interrogatories and a request for production of documents on September 20 and then answered the Gorostietas' first request for production of documents on September 21 and their first request for admissions on October 14. On April 23, 1997, Parkinson answered the Gorostietas' second set of discovery. The Gorostietas did not respond to Parkinson's discovery requests.
A pretrial conference was held on May 13, 1997. By that time, the Gorostietas still had never responded to Parkinson's interrogatories and request for production of documents; Parkinson had responded to all of the Gorostietas' discovery requests. Thereafter, the court issued an order on May 30 that set the jury trial for December 3, 1997, and required the parties to exchange witness lists and exhibit lists no later than October 1, 1997.
Parkinson submitted her exhibit list and witness list on October 1, 1997, but the Gorostietas did not. In fact, by that time, the Gorostietas still had not responded to Parkinson's discovery request of September 20, 1995. Accordingly, on October 31, 1997, Parkinson moved for summary judgment, seeking dismissal pursuant to rules 37 and 56 of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure for the Gorostietas' "flagrant violations of court orders and discovery rules."
At the summary judgment hearing on November 26, 1997, the Gorostietas claimed that their response to Parkinson's September 1995 discovery request had been completed in May 1997 but had not been sent until November 4 due to a clerical oversight. In addition, the Gorostietas claimed that a witness list had not been provided by October 1 because the Gorostietas planned to adopt Parkinson's witness list. On November 4, only after Parkinson had filed for summary judgment, the Gorostietas served Parkinson with notice of adopting Parkinson's list. However, the Gorostietas had still not produced an exhibit list. The court denied Parkinson's motion for summary judgment but sanctioned the Go
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