Williams v. Bombardier Recreational Products, Inc., et al.
Plaintiff James Williams filed a products liability action against our clients Bombardier Recreational Products and Temecula Motorsports in June 2019, after being injured in an accident involving a Can-Am Maverick X3 offroad vehicle in 2017. Williams died from causes unrelated to the accident in June 2022, leaving the action without a Plaintiff to prosecute it, and bringing to an end any right to recover pain and suffering damages on Williams’ behalf. Plaintiff’s counsel sought to take advantage of an amendment to Code of Civil Procedure section 337.34, which permits recovery by a deceased person’s estate of pain and suffering damages in survival actions filed after January 1, 2022.
Plaintiff’s counsel asked Bombardier and Temecula to stipulate to substitute Williams’ son Tyson as successor-in-interest, and to permit the estate to recover pain and suffering damages pursuant to section 337.34 as amended. Bombardier and Temecula refused to stipulate to recovery of pain and suffering damages, on the ground that the amendment applied only to cases filed after January 1, 2022. Rather than substituting in as successor-in-interest, Tyson filed a separate action in August, 2022, in an attempt to take advantage of the amendment to the survival statute.
Plaintiff’s counsel then sought to consolidate the two actions, claiming that consolidation would serve to substitute Tyson as successor-in-interest in the first-filed action. BRP and Temecula objected and argued that the consolidation motion could not be considered until a successor-in-interest had substituted in to the first action. The trial court agreed, and after giving plaintiff’s counsel multiple opportunities to make the substitution, ultimately granted our motion to dismiss for failure to prosecute. The Court of Appeals affirmed this decision, holding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in dismissing the action. The YS trial team also successfully moved to dismiss the second action filed by Tyson Williams.