Defendant's Attorney: Jennifer Davis

Description: South Bend, Indiana personal injury truck wreck lawyer represented Plaintiff, who sued Defendants on auto negligence theories claiming to have suffered more than $75,000 in damages and/or injuries as a direct result of a car truck wreck when Plaintiff claimed was caused by Royal Pager's driver.

Federal Courthouse - South Bend, Indiana

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On a foggy day in 2015, Plaintiff Kedron Gaston (at the time, a twelve-year-old minor) was a passenger in a car which collided with a stopped semi-truck driven by Mr. Hazeltine and owned by his employer Royal Paper. Plaintiff alleges that, at the time of the crash, “the brake lights on the back of the Royal Paper semi-trailer . . . were not illuminated [or] activated . . . despite the fact that the brakes were engaged.” Both Plaintiff and her mother, Jessica Gaston, suffered serious injuries.

When investigating the crash, Royal Paper and Mr. Hazeltine's insurer, Grange, hired Cooper Barrette Consulting and Adam Hyde to perform testing on the trailer lighting system of the semi-truck. Grange “retained attorney Jennifer Davis . . . to represent Mr. Hazeltine and Royal Paper's interests” and that Ms. Davis then retained Adam Hyde of Cooper Barrette Consulting.) Adam Hyde wrote after an initial inspection that he “found parts of the bulb unit were broken resting at the base of the unit [but that] no further examination was completed at that time of this report, as further examination may be destructive in nature to the sealed unit.” (DE 35-5 at 7 (emphasis added).) However, at the direction of the attorney hired by Grange, Jennifer Davis, Hyde then proceeded to conduct testing on the lights, without contacting Kedron Gaston, her representatives, or the Court beforehand.

On November 2, 2021, Plaintiff Kedron Gaston filed the instant lawsuit, bringing two claims: (1) negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress against Mr. Hazeltine and Royal Paper, which alleges that the stopped truck did not have active taillights or brake lights at the time of the accident and there were no other mechanisms to alert approaching drivers of the truck's presence in the fog; and (2) spoliation of evidence against Grange, alleging that Mr. Hyde took the taillights and brake lights from the truck and performed destructive testing, thereby making crucial evidence unavailable. (DE 9 at 3, 11.)

On May 5, 2022, Plaintiff moved for partial summary judgment. In that motion, Plaintiff asserts that the findings of a prior state court litigation brought by her mother, Jessica Gaston, collaterally estops each of the Defendants from relitigating spoliation in the instant case. In that prior litigation, Jessica Gaston brought a suit concerning the crash in the Wabash County Superior Court: Jessica Gaston v. Jackie Hazeltine and the Royal Paper, Inc., case number 85D01-1709-PL-000605. (DE 35-1; DE 35-2.) The state court made the following findings regarding spoliation:

(1) That the evidence related to the tractor-trailer's lighting system was in the exclusive possession of the Defendants or their agents;

(2) That the Defendants had a duty to preserve the evidence;

(3) That the Defendants knew, or should have known, that Jessica Gaston was injured during the accident, and that litigation was likely as a result of that incident;

(4) That the Defendants negligently or intentionally destroyed, mutilated, or altered the evidence as a result of invasive testing performed by their expert; and

(5) That the aforementioned testing was performed without protecting the interests of Jessica Gaston by failing to contact the Court, Jessica Gaston, or her representative, and by failing to set up a procedure to ensure her interests were protected.

Outcome: Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment for spoliation of evidence denied.

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Defendant's Experts:

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