Justice Joseph Maltese
Defendants moved for summary judgment dismissing plaintiffs’ complaint in this products liability action in which plaintiffs sought to recover for personal injuries allegedly sustained due to an alleged defect in their vehicle’s air-bag system, which deployed spontaneously. Plaintiffs’ complaint alleged claims for breach of the express and implied warranties of merchantability, and strict tort and product liability, among others. Defendants moved for summary judgment due to plaintiffs’ spoliation of crucial evidence. Defendants’ experts stated if the vehicle were not destroyed, the electronic control unit would retain the car’s historical diagnostic information if there was a problem with the air bag. The court stated defendant correctly pointed out that when a products liability action arose from an incident involving a single person, there were two witnesses, the plaintiff and the product. Here, expert affidavits demonstrated defendants were prejudiced by plaintiffs’ failure to preserve the vehicle, while plaintiffs’ expert submitted no evidence rebutting the defense’s position that the vehicle was necessary to understand if the air bag malfunctioned. Thus, striking plaintiffs’ complaint was an appropriate sanction.
