Castillo

STATEMENT OF FACTS

This is a wrongful death action arising out of a collision between a big rig truck

and a passenger vehicle driven by plaintiffs’ decedent. Among plaintiffs’ theories of

liability are (1) that defendant and petitioner Omar Castillo (Castillo) was talking on a

cell phone at the time of the accident; and (2) that he had actually been awake at times

when the truck log showed him to have been sleeping or resting, and was therefore sleep-

deprived at the time of the crash.

Accordingly, plaintiffs began to make efforts to obtain the records of the cellular

phone in Castillo’s possession at the time. On July 24, 2012, they served a request for

production of documents which included a request for “[t]he cellular telephone bill for

the date of the incident . . . for any cellular telephone of which responding party was in

possession on the date of the incident.” Castillo’s response was that he did not have any

such documents. Plaintiffs apparently accepted this response, at least for the time being.

2 After Castillo testified at his deposition that he had indeed been using his cell

phone at the time of the accident, plaintiffs sent a second set of requests…