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Cooper Tire Rubber Co. v. Koch

The trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying defendant's motion to dismiss, or alternatively, to bar certain evidence as a sanction for spoliation of evidence, as the record supported the trial court's conclusion that litigation was not reasonably foreseeable when plaintiff destroyed the evidence.

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Plaintiff/appellee Renee Koch Plaintiff, individually and as the administrator of the estate of her deceased husband Gerald Raymond Koch Mr. Koch, filed a complaint for damages based on negligent design/manufacture, strict liability, and failure to warn against appellant Cooper Tire Rubber Company Cooper Tire and others, alleging that her husband suffered fatal injuries in a single vehicle crash caused by a catastrophic tire tread separation. After it was revealed during discovery that Plaintiff had preserved only the carcass of the tire that blew out and had allowed remnants of the detached tread, the wheel on which the tire was mounted, the three companion tires, and the vehicle to be destroyed, Cooper Tire moved to dismiss the complaint or, alternatively, to bar certain evidence as a sanction for spoliation of evidence. The trial court denied the motion but issued a certificate of immediate review, and Cooper Tire filed an application for interlocutory appeal in this Court, which we granted. As more fully set forth below, we now affirm.

The facts pertinent to this appeal are largely undisputed. On April 24, 2012, Gerald Koch was driving eastbound on Interstate 16 in his 2000 Ford Explorer when the tread on his left rear tire detached. According to the State of Georgia Traffic Crash Report, the Explorer then swerved out of control and traveled approximately 79 feet before striking a guardrail. The vehicle continued to travel in an easterly direction for approximately 134 feet, overturning several times before coming to an uncontrolled final rest in the eastbound ditch facing west.

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