The New Jersey Appellate Division affirmed the lower court’s judgment, which awarded the plaintiff damages for her mother’s death due to peritoneal mesothelioma. The plaintiff sued Ford and seven other defendants. A jury returned a verdict in the plaintiff’s favor. Ford appealed and argued that the trial court erred in ruling that the company violated a consent order as well as in selecting and implementing sanctions. The Appellate Division affirmed, ruling that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in finding that Ford did not comply with the consent order for discovery. “The detailed record offers little support for Ford’s claim that it acted in good faith in responding to plaintiff’s key discovery requests.” Furthermore, the record demonstrated that Ford’s discovery violation was preceded by years of Ford resisting the plaintiff’s discovery requests and occurred despite the negotiated consent order. And the trial court’s sanction directly corresponded to the violation, which involved a document that supported the plaintiff’s claim that Ford failed to warn its dealerships of a known hazard.
