Opinion
August 10, 1990
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Erie County, Flaherty, J.
Present — Dillon, P.J., Callahan, Green, Balio and Lowery, JJ.
Order unanimously reversed on the law with costs, motion denied and cross motion granted. Memorandum: In this product liability action based upon a design defect, Supreme Court erred in staying defendant Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Inc.'s motion for summary judgment pending disclosure of postaccident raw data generated by defendant's 1989 safety guard testing program. The discovery sought was not "`material and necessary'" (Allen v Crowell-Collier Publ. Co., 21 N.Y.2d 403, 406). The postaccident test data would be relevant only if it were related to the technology of the industry at the time of manufacture (see, Rainbow v Elia Bldg. Co., 79 A.D.2d 287, affd 56 N.Y.2d 550; Bolm v Triumph Corp., 71 A.D.2d 429, lv dismissed sub nom. Bolm v Birmingham Small Arms, 50 N.Y.2d 801). Plaintiff failed to demonstrate any nexus between the data sought to be disclosed and the technology of the industry at the time the motorcycle was manufactured.