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Lawsuit Against PSE Dismissed for Spoilation of Evidence
May 27, 2004. The King County Superior Court today granted
Puget Sound Energy's Motion for Evidentiary Sanctions Against Plaintiff
for Spoliation of Evidence and Summary Judgment. The case arose out
of an August 9, 2001, fire at a tanning salon in Kirkland. The salon's
insurance company brought a subrogation claim in excess of $500,000
against PSE to recover amounts paid to its insured. Prior to the litigation,
the insured refused to allow PSE's representatives to inspect the
fire scene. In addition, two months after the fire, the insurance
company sold the allegedly damaged tanning beds for salvage. Judge
Doerty ruled that the insured's failure to alllow PSE access to the
fire scene, the insurance company's failure to exercise its contractual
cooperation clause, and the salvage of the beds, constituted spoliation
of evidence that prejudiced PSE's ability to defend the lawsuit. The
court further ruled that any rebuttable presumption against the evidence
would be insufficient to cure the prejudice, and excluded all evidence
of the tanning beds and the condition of the fire scene. Absent such
evidence, the insurance company could not put forward a prima facie
case, and the Court dismissed all claims against PSE on summary judgment.
PSE was represented by GMT lawyers Jeff Thomas and Dan Houser.
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