Allen

I.

INTRODUCTION

While plaintiff and appellant Brenda Lee Allen and her family were moving out of

Ontario Airport Inn Hotel after an extended stay, she and the hotel owner, defendant and

respondent Anil Bhula Patel, and the hotel manager, Luis Mejia, engaged in an

altercation. Allen alleges that during the incident, Patel attacked and injured her. Allen

brought a personal injury lawsuit against Patel and his company, DH Hotel Investments, 1 Inc. (DH) (collectively referred to as defendant). A jury awarded Allen over one million

dollars in compensatory damages, and the court declared a mistrial at the bifurcated trial

on her punitive damages claim, and thereafter granted defendant’s motion for a new trial

(MNT). Allen appeals.

Allen contends the trial court abused its discretion by granting the MNT based on

attorney misconduct. She also argues the trial court abused its discretion by dismissing

the jury at the bifurcated trial on her punitive damages claim. We affirm the trial court’s

order granting a new trial of phase one of the trial as to liability and compensatory

damages. The issue of whether the court properly declared a mistrial of the punitive

damages claim…