Chapman v. Auto Owners Insurance

Ruffin, Judge.

Auto Owners Insurance Company (“Auto Owners”) sued Robert Chapman d/b/a Chapman Electrical Company (“Chapman”) for damages from a fire allegedly caused by Chapman’s employees. Chapman moved in limine for the court to dismiss Auto Owners’ case or prevent Auto Owners’ experts from testifying about certain evidence that Auto Owners destroyed which was essential to Auto Owners’ theory of causation. We granted Chapman’s petition for interlocutory appeal to determine an issue of first impression: whether the trial court’s only means to address the destruction of evidence was to charge…