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Kirk v. Ford Motor Co.6/23/2005
ing Moffatt would testify that the vehicle's occupants were unrestrained prior to the rollover and that had they been restrained they would have (1) not been ejected, (2) suffered substantially less injuries, and (3) all survived. Some of the discussion at that hearing related to the relevance of the seatbelt testimony in light of the punitive damages claim made by the Kirks. The Kirks stated no objection to the proposed testimony at that time. Moffatt testified the next day consistent with Ford's disclosure. The Kirks did not object to Moffatt's testimony regarding seatbelt evidence and stipulated in front of the jury the decedents were unbelted prior to the crash.
Following Ford's presentation of evidence, the Kirks retained Martha Bidez, Ph.D (Bidez), a seatbelt and occupant kinematics expert, as a rebuttal witness. During a proffer in chambers, the Kirks stated Bidez would testify that the vehicle's seatbelts (1) were not adequately designed, (2) had been recalled, and (3) would not have prevented Kyle and Bret's fatalities. The district court ordered that Bidez' testimony be limited to evidence the decedents would have died in the vehicle regardless of the seatbelts. Bidez was not allowed to testify as to the alleged defective design of the belts.
At the close of trial the district court gave a limiting instruction, Jury Instruction No. 11, which instructed the jurors they could not consider the use of seatbelts in evaluating either alleged contributory negligence of the decedents or causal issues related to their deaths. The jury was instructed that it could consider the fact the vehicle was equipped with functional seatbelts for the purpose of determining whether the overall design of the vehicle was unreasonably dangerous. The jury returned a special verdict in favor of Ford on all claims. Ford filed a request for costs as a matter of right and discretionary costs. The district court awarded Ford $25,213.31 in costs as a matter of right and $1,312.50 in discretionary costs for a total award of $26,525.81. The Kirks appealed and filed a motion for new trial, which the district court denied. Ford cross-appealed the amount of the award of discretionary costs. This Court dismissed the cross-appeal.
The Kirks contend the district court erred in allowing Ford to introduce evidence the decedents were unbelted prior to the rollover, delaying in its ruling on the admissibility of seatbelt evidence, giving Jury Instruction No. 11, limiting the rebuttal testimony of Bidez, failing to order production of the Suspension Orders, and precluding the Kirks from eliciting evidence at trial that Ford had destroyed the ADAMS data contrary to its own Corporate Records Management Manual (CRMM) and Suspension Orders. Ford disputes each of these claims.
II. STANDARD OF REVIEW
Trial courts have broad discretion over the admission of evidence at trial, including expert testimony, and in determining whether or not to grant a motion to compel. I.R.C.P. 37(a)(2)(2004); Karlson v. Harris, 140 Idaho 561, __, 97 P.3d 428, 431 (2004)(trial courts have broad discretion in the admission of expert testimony)(citing Basic Amer., Inc. v. Shatila, 133 Idaho 726, 743, 992 P.2d 175, 191 (1999)); Storm v. Spaulding, 137 Idaho 145, 149, 44 P.3d 1200, 1204 (Ct. App. 2002)(trial court's supervision of discovery is wholly discretionary) (citation omitted). Such decisions will only be reversed when there has been a clear abuse of discretion. Karlson, 140 Idaho at __, 97 P.3d at 431 (citation omitted); Storm, 137 Idaho at 149, 44 P.3d at 1204. In reviewing whether or not a district court abused its discretion this Court determines:
(1) whether the trial court correctly perceived th
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