What are the torts for spoliation of evidence in a wrongful death/medical malpractice action?

Subsequent decisions have provided little detail regarding the contours of these torts. Reid v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. (1985) 173 Cal.App.3d [40 Cal.App.4th 909] 557, 218 Cal.Rptr. 913 held that an insurer had no duty to preserve as evidence the damaged motor vehicle absent a specific request from the insured to do so. (Id. at p. 580, 218 Cal.Rptr. 913.)

Walsh v. Caidin, supra, 232 Cal.App.3d 159, 283 Cal.Rptr. 326, held that defendants in a wrongful death/medical malpractice action could not state a cause of action for spoliation of evidence against the surviving plaintiff spouse who had decedent's body cremated despite defendants' request for an autopsy. The surviving spouse had sole authority over disposition of the remains, defendants had no legal right to an autopsy for civil discovery purposes, and the spouse and her attorney owed defendants no duty to preserve evidence because the law did not treat a human body as merely another form of evidence. (Id. at pp. 162, 164, 283 Cal.Rptr. 326.)