Heredia

INTRODUCTION

Herlinda Godoy Heredia (Godoy) was involved in a traffic accident with a sheriff’s vehicle driven by Sergeant Robert Lee Thompson of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. She sued the County of Riverside (County) for vicarious liability on a negligence theory.1 A jury found both Godoy and Thompson negligent in the accident but apportioned 90 percent fault to Godoy and 10 percent fault to Thompson. After accounting for the comparative fault, Godoy received $10,114.40 in damages against the County. She challenges the judgment, contending the trial court erred in: (1) denying her new trial motion based on juror and attorney misconduct; (2) permitting the County to withdraw discovery admissions and excluding the withdrawn admissions at trial; (3) excluding a report obtained from

Thomas’s personnel file pursuant to a Pitchess2 motion; and (4) allowing a physician expert to testify about sub rosa surveillance videos that were not admitted. She further argues the cumulative effect of these errors entitles her to a new trial. The County filed a protective cross-appeal asserting the trial court erred by not allowing the jury to view the surveillance videos. We conclude…