Magaña v. Hyundai Motor America

¶1 Trial courts need not tolerate deliberate and willful discovery abuse. Given the unique facts and circumstances of this case, we hold that the trial court appropriately diagnosed Hyundai’s willful efforts to frustrate and undermine truthful pretrial discovery efforts by striking its pleadings and rendering an $8,000,000 default judgment plus reasonable attorney fees. This result appropriately compensates the other party and hopefully educates and deters others inclined to similar behavior.

¶2 We determine the trial court acted well within its discretion and reverse the Court of Appeals,…