Menard v. Cooperative Fire Insurance

Plaintiffs, Daniel and Joyce Menard, sued D.M.C. Electric, Inc. alleging that faulty installation of an outlet box caused a fire that burned down plaintiffs’ barn. Prior to the trial defendant, Cooperative Fire Insurance Association of Vermont, which was plaintiffs’ fire insurance carrier and paid plaintiffs’ claim, took possession of the outlet box and lost it and all pictures of it. As a result, plaintiffs were unable to show the box to the jury, and plaintiffs’ expert was unable to use it in his testimony in the case against D.M.C. Electric. When the jury returned a verdict against…