Ms. Linda Thompson's Chevy Cobalt caught fire parked in her carport. Reasoning that the event spoke for itself, she sued and relied on res ipsa loquitur to prove her case. She (or the party subrogated to her rights) sued General Motors contending that it would be a jury case. However, a U.S. District Judge granted GM's motion for summary judgment instead.
"The Court finds," the District Judge said, "that Plaintiff has not satisfied her burden of maintaining application of res ipsa loquitur in this case because the record evidence does not sufficiently eliminate other plausible causes of the fire. While Plaintiff focuses on the portion of the Fire Marshal Report which indicates that the 'area of origin was determined to be at or near the engine compartment of the loss,' it ignores the following finding: 'The cause of the fire is being classified as "undetermined" with the inability to rule out accidental causes.' Moreover, Plaintiff's own experts opined: 'Without knowing the full maintenance or repair history of the vehicle, we cannot address the possible relationship with respect to any work performed on the vehicle and the source of the fire's ignition.'"
Centauri Specialty Ins. Co. v. General Motors, LLC, No. 16-226-SDD-RLB, 2017 WL 1015311, at *5 (M.D. La. March 15, 2017) (emphasis by the District Court).
Later this year the author's forthcoming book on secrecy orders and concealing evidence in federal courts will address the General Motors alleged ignition defect litigation involving Chevy Cobalts.
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