Cincinnati Insurance Company, Appellant v. General Motors Corporation, Appellee, 1994 Ohio App. LEXIS 4960

Summary

The court held that a trial court's denial of manufacturer's motion to exclude the expert's evidence in an earlier suit, which was voluntarily dismissed under Ohio R. Civ. P. 41(A)(1), did not collaterally estop manufacturer from bringing the same motion in the present suit. Because manufacturer demonstrated that the car was destroyed after a full examination by insurer's expert without notice to manufacturer and prior to litigation, and that its expert could not determine the origin or cause of the fire absent the destroyed evidence, a rebuttable presumption of prejudice to manufacturer arose. The court held that photos and preservation of the car's blower were no substitute for the car itself in the precise condition immediately after the fire, and adopted another court's holding that as a matter of sound public policy, an expert should not be permitted intentionally or negligently to destroy such evidence and then substitute his or her own description of it. Therefore, insurer had ...