Castro v. QVC Network, Inc.

• Decision Date: 05 March 1998
• Docket Number: Docket No. 96-7908,T-FAL
• Parties: 34 UCC Rep.Serv.2d 946, Prod.Liab.Rep. (CCH) P 15,169 Loyda CASTRO; Raul Castro, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. QVC NETWORK, INC.; U.S.A.Corp., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

Page 114

139 F.3d 114

34 UCC Rep.Serv.2d 946, Prod.Liab.Rep. (CCH) P 15,169

Loyda CASTRO; Raul Castro, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. QVC NETWORK, INC.; U.S.A. T-FAL Corp., Defendants-Appellees.

Docket No. 96-7908.

United States Court of Appeals,

Second Circuit.

Argued Sept. 24, 1997.

Decided March 5, 1998.

Joel J. Ziegler, Greshin, Ziegler & Pruzansky, Smithtown, NY, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.

Barry J. Kushel, Gallacher, Kushel & Horvat, Riverhead, NY (Robert F. Saunderson, of counsel), for Defendant-Appellant QVC Network, Inc.

David M. Reilly, Croutier & Ryan, Garden City, NY, for Defendant-Appellant U.S.A. T-Fal Corp.

Before: MESKILL, CALABRESI, Circuit Judges, BRIEANT, ^* District Judge.

CALABRESI, Circuit Judge:

In this diversity products liability action, plaintiffs-appellants alleged, in separate causes of action for strict liability and for breach of warranty, that defendants-appellees manufactured and sold a defective roasting pan that injured one of the appellants. The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Leonard D. Wexler, Judge ) rejected appellants' request to charge the jury separately on each cause of action and, instead, instructed the jury only on the strict liability charge. The jury found for appellees and the court denied appellants' motion for a new trial. This appeal followed. We hold that, under New York law, the jury should have been instructed separately on each charge, and, accordingly, reverse and remand for a new trial on the breach of warranty claim.

I. BACKGROUND

In early November 1993, appellee QVC Network, Inc. ("QVC"), operator of a cable television home-shopping channel, advertised, as part of a one-day Thanksgiving promotion, the "T-Fal Jumbo Resistal Roaster." The roaster, manufactured by U.S.A. T-Fal Corp. ("T-Fal"), was described as suitable for, among other things, cooking a twenty-five pound turkey. ¹ Appellant Loyda Castro bought the roasting pan by mail and used it to prepare a twenty-pound turkey on Thanksgiving Day, 1993.

Mrs. Castro was injured when she attempted to remove the turkey and roasting pan from the oven. Using insulated mittens, she gripped the pan's handles with the first two fingers on each hand (the maximum grip allowed by the small size of the handles) and took the pan out of the oven. As the turkey tipped toward her, she lost control of the pan, spilling the hot drippings and fat that had accumulated in it during the cooking and basting process. As a result, she suffered second and third degree burns to her foot and ankle, which, over time, has led to scarring, intermittent paresthesia, and ankle swelling.

It is uncontested that in their complaint appellants alleged that the pan was defective and that its defects gave rise to separate causes of action for strict liability and for breach of warranty. Moreover, in the pre-charge conference, appellants' counsel repeatedly requested separate jury charges on strict liability and for breach of warranty. The district court, nevertheless, denied the request for a separate charge on breach of warranty. Judge Wexler stated that "you can't collect twice for the same thing," and deemed the warranty charge unnecessary and "duplicative." The court, therefore, only gave the jury the New York pattern strict products liability charge.

The jury returned a verdict for appellees QVC and T-Fal. Judgment was entered on September 14, 1995. Appellants subsequently moved, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59, that the jury verdict be set aside and a new trial be ordered for various reasons including that the court had failed to charge the jury on appellants' claim for breach of warranty. By order dated July 10, 1996, the district court denied appellants' Rule 59 motion, reasoning that the breach of warranty and strict products liability claims were "virtually the same." This appeal followed.

II. DISCUSSION

We review a district court's denial of a new-trial motion for abuse of discretion. See Luciano v. Olsten Corp., 110 F.3d 210, 217 (2d Cir.1997). A failure to give a required charge to the jury, if not harmless, constitutes abuse of discretion. See id. at 218 ("[A] jury charge is erroneous if the instruction ... does not adequately inform the jury of the law."); Anderson v. Branen, 17 F.3d 552, 556 (2d Cir.1994) ("An erroneous instruction, unless harmless, requires a new trial.").

A. Two Definitions of "Defective" Product Design

Products liability law has long been bedeviled by the search for an appropriate definition of "defective" product design. ² Over the years, both in the cases and in the literature, two approaches have come to predominate. The first is the risk/utility theory, which focuses on whether the benefits of a product outweigh the dangers of its design. ³ The second is the consumer expectations theory, which focuses on what a buyer/user of a product would properly expect that the product would be suited for. ⁴

Not all states accept both of these approaches. Some define design defect only according to the risk/utility approach. See e.g., Armentrout v. FMC Corp., 842 P.2d 175, 183 (Colo.1992); Radiation Tech., Inc. v. Ware Constr. Co., 445 So.2d 329, 331 (Fla.1983); Thibault v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 118 N.H. 802, 395 A.2d 843, 846 (1978). Others define design defect solely in terms of the consumer expectations theory. See, e.g., Rojas v. Lindsay Mfg. Co., 108 Idaho 590, 701 P.2d 210, 212 (1985); Ritter v. Narragansett Elec. Co., 109 R.I. 176, 283 A.2d 255, 263 (1971); Vincer v. Esther Williams All-Aluminum Swimming Pool Co., 69 Wis.2d 326, 230 N.W.2d 794, 798 (1975). ⁵

One of the first states to accept both approaches was California, which in Barker v. Lull Engineering Co., 20 Cal.3d 413, 143 Cal.Rptr. 225, 573 P.2d 443 (1978), held that "a product may be found defective in design, so as to subject a manufacturer to strict liability for resulting injuries, under either of two alternative tests"--consumer expectations and risk/utility. Id. at 430-32, 143 Cal.Rptr. at 237, 573 P.2d at 455. ⁶ Several states have followed suit and have adopted both theories. See Caterpillar Tractor Co. v. Beck, 593 P.2d 871, 884 (Alaska 1979); Dart v. Wiebe Mfg., Inc., 147 Ariz. 242, 709 P.2d 876, 879-80 (1985); Ontai v. Straub Clinic & Hosp., Inc., 66 Haw. 237, 659 P.2d 734, 739-40 (1983); Lamkin v. Towner, 138 Ill.2d 510, 150 Ill.Dec. 562, 563 N.E.2d 449, 457 (1990); Knitz v. Minster Mach. Co., 69 Ohio St.2d 460, 432 N.E.2d 814, 818 (1982).

Prior to the recent case of Denny v. Ford Motor Co., 87 N.Y.2d 248, 639 N.Y.S.2d 250, 662 N.E.2d 730 (1995), it was not clear whether New York recognized both tests. In Denny, the plaintiff was injured when her Ford Bronco II sports utility vehicle rolled over when she slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting a deer in the vehicle's path. See Denny v. Ford Motor Co., 42 F.3d 106, 108 (2d Cir.1994), certifying questions to Denny, 87 N.Y.2d 248, 639 N.Y.S.2d 250, 662 N.E.2d 730. The plaintiff asserted claims for strict products liability and for breach of implied warranty, and the district judge--over the objection of defendant Ford--submitted both causes of action to the jury. See id. The jury ruled in favor of Ford on the strict liability claim, but found for the plaintiff on the implied warranty claim. See id. at 109-10. On appeal, Ford argued that the jury's verdicts on the strict products liability claim and the breach of warranty claim were inconsistent because the causes of action were identical. See id. at 107.

This court certified the Denny case to the New York Court of Appeals to answer the following questions: (1) "whether, under New York law, the strict products liability and implied warranty claims are identical"; and (2) "whether, if the claims are different, the strict products liability claim is broader than the implied warranty claim and encompasses the latter." Id. at 111-12.

In response to the certified questions, the Court of Appeals held that in a products liability case a cause of action for strict liability is not identical to a claim for breach of warranty. See Denny, 87 N.Y.2d at 251, 639 N.Y.S.2d 250, 662 N.E.2d at 731. ⁷ Moreover, the court held that a strict liability claim is not per se broader than a breach of warranty claim such that the former encompasses the latter. See id. Thus, while claims of strict products liability and breach of warranty are often used interchangeably, under New York law the two causes of action are definitively different. The imposition of strict liability for an alleged design "defect" is determined by a risk-utility standard, see Voss v. Black & Decker Mfg. Co., 59 N.Y.2d 102, 108, 463 N.Y.S.2d 398, 450 N.E.2d 204, 208 (1983). The notion of "defect" in a U.C.C.-based breach of warranty claim focuses, instead, on consumer expectations. See Denny, 87 N.Y.2d at 258-59, 639 N.Y.S.2d 250, 662 N.E.2d at 736.

B. When Should a Jury be Charged on Both Strict Liability and Warranty Causes of Action?

Since Denny, then, it has been settled that the risk/utility and consumer expectations theories of design defect can, in New York, be the bases of distinct causes of action: one for strict products liability and one for breach of warranty. This fact, however, does not settle the question of when a jury must be charged separately on each cause of action and when, instead, the two causes are, on the facts of the specific case, sufficiently similar to each other so that one charge to the jury is enough.

While eminent jurists have at times been troubled by this issue, ⁸ the New York Court of Appeals in Denny was quite clear on when the two causes of action might meld and when, instead, they are to be treated as separate. It did this by adding its own twist to the distinction--namely, what can aptly be called the "dual purpose" requirement. See Denny, 87 N.Y.2d at 263, 639 N.Y.S.2d 250, 662 N.E.2d at 738-39. Thus in Denny, the Court of Appeals pointed out that the fact that a product's overall...