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Phillips v. Century LLC | 2017 WL 773545 (2017)
Generally, evidence of similar occurrences is of little or no evidentiary relevancy. But what if the evidence is being offered to show a lack of notice or the absence of similar claims? A California court squared up to answer this question in Phillips versus Century LLC.
Robert Phillips was wearing protective headgear manufactured by Century LLC while sparring at a martial arts studio. When Phillips’s opponent punched him in the face, the headgear’s face shield hit the bridge of his nose and cut it. Phillips cleaned his face and continued to spar. The next day, Phillips had neck and back pain. He went to a chiropractor, who adjusted several vertebrae. The next morning, Phillips suffered a stroke due to dissection of his carotid artery, resulting in severe brain damage requiring total care.
Phillips and his wife sued Century for strict liability, negligence, and failure to warn about the headgear’s dangers.
At trial, Phillips’s experts testified that a glove catching in the opening of the headgear could cause hyperextension and rotation to the wearer’s head and neck, causing dissection of the carotid artery. The defense experts countered that Phillips’s injury was more likely caused by the chiropractic adjustment or a spontaneous dissection.
Further, as to the issue of failure to warn, a Century executive testified that the company had sold over one hundred thousand units of the same headgear model that Phillips wore, but this was the first injury claim ever made. The executive also testified that he twice reviewed all insurance claims ever filed against Century, was involved in all but two of the investigations, and went through every file in every department looking for anything relevant to the claim that the headgear was unsafe.
The jury found that Century was negligent, but its negligence wasn’t a substantial factor in causing Phillips’s injury and that Century didn’t intentionally fail to disclose facts about the headgear. Phillips appealed, arguing that the trial court abused its discretion in allowing the Century executive to testify regarding the absence of similar claims.
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