Wackenhut Corp. v. Gutierrez (Per Curiam)
Annotate this CasePetitioner owned and operated a charter bus that collided with a car driven by Respondent. Respondent filed this negligence action against Petitioner seeking damages for the injuries he sustained in the collision. Before trial, Respondent filed a motion for spoliation of evidence requesting that Petitioner be sanctioned because it destroyed a video recording of the accident. The trial court orally ruled that Petitioner had negligently spoliated evidence and ordered the inclusion of a spoliation instruction in the jury charge. The jury found in Respondent’s favor. Petitioner appealed, arguing that the trial court erred in submitting the spoliation instruction. The court of appeals affirmed, concluding that Petitioner waived any complaint it had about the instruction. The Supreme Court reversed, holding (1) Petitioner preserved error by responding to the pretrial motion for sanctions, even while failing to formally object to the instruction’s inclusion in the jury charge until after it was read to the jury; and (2) the trial court committed reversible error by submitting the instruction. Remanded for a new trial.
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