Sylvester

INTRODUCTION

Defendant Lundar Yuh appeals from a default judgment entered after the trial court imposed terminating sanctions against him for misuse of the discovery process. Following a default prove-up hearing, the court awarded plaintiffs Lance Sylvester and Elena Sylvester (together, the Sylvesters) $60,000 in compensatory damages and $300,000 in punitive damages. We conclude the trial court did not abuse its discretion by imposing terminating sanctions against Yuh for misuse of the discovery process or by denying Yuh‟s motion to vacate the default judgment under Code of Civil Procedure section 473, subdivision (b). We affirm the award of compensatory damages in favor of both Elena Sylvester and Lance Sylvester. We conclude, however, the Sylvesters failed to present admissible evidence of Yuh‟s financial condition sufficient for us to make a well-informed decision whether the amount of punitive damages is excessive, as Yuh contends. We lack jurisdiction to consider his challenge to the postjudgment order denying the motion to vacate the judgment. We therefore strike the award of punitive damages and remand for a new default prove-up hearing only on the issue of the amount of…