Tempel v. Benson
Annotate this CasePlaintiff sued Defendant for negligence after the parties were involved in a car crash. During discovery, Plaintiff asked Defendant to admit violating certain traffic laws on the day of the crash. Defendant denied the request. The district court eventually granted summary judgment on the issue of Defendant’s negligence but denied Plaintiff’s motion for sanctions for Defendant’s failure to admit violating traffic laws. After a jury trial on damages, the jury awarded Plaintiff some, but not all, of the damages she sought in her negligence action. Plaintiff appealed. Defendant moved to dismiss the appeal, arguing that Plaintiff waived her right to appeal by accepting the benefits of the judgment. The Supreme Court dismissed Plaintiff’s appeal and affirmed the district court’s decision not to sanction Defendant’s discovery conduct, holding (1) Plaintiff waived her right to appeal the district court’s evidentiary rulings when she accepted the judgment entered on the jury’s verdict; and (2) the district court did not abuse its discretion in determining that Defendant’s conduct did not warrant discovery sanctions.
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