Hoyt

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff and appellant Darin Hoyt (plaintiff) filed this suit against defendant and respondent ABM Aviation, Inc. (ABM) after he was injured in a collision with a bus driven by an employee of ABM. A jury concluded plaintiff was entirely at fault. Plaintiff does not challenge the jury’s findings. Instead, plaintiff contends the trial court erred by denying his request to preclude ABM’s accident reconstruction expert (expert) from testifying at trial because ABM’s counsel inadvertently sent the expert a copy of plaintiff’s confidential mediation brief. Although we agree that disclosure of the mediation brief was improper (see Evidence Code section 1119), the record reflects that the expert did not rely on the brief in forming his opinions. The expert’s trial testimony supports that position as does the fact that the expert reviewed the available evidence and completed his initial analysis prior to the mediation. Plaintiff speculates that the expert may have been subconsciously influenced by the content of the mediation brief and therefore should have been disqualified. We conclude such speculation is insufficient to support the disqualification of the expert and,…