Flury v. Daimler Chrysler Corp.

• Decision Date: 05 October 2005
• Docket Number: No. 04-15182.,04-15182.
• Citation: 427 F.3d 939
• Parties: Bryant FLURY, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. DAIMLER CHRYSLER CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

427 F.3d 939

Bryant FLURY, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. DAIMLER CHRYSLER CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 04-15182.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

October 5, 2005.

Raymond M. Kethledge, Bush, Seyferth, Kethledge & Paige, PLLC, Troy, MI, M. Diane Owens, Long, Weinberg, Ansley & Wheeler, Carolyn Cain Burch, Swift, Currie, McGhee & Hiers, LLP, Atlanta, GA, for Defendant-Appellant.

Richard D. Phillips, Phillips & Kitchings, Ludowici, GA, for Flury.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia.

Before BIRCH, CARNES and FAY, Circuit Judges.

FAY, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiff, Bryant Flury ("Flury"), sued defendant, Daimler Chrysler Corp. ("DCC"), for enhanced injuries, which he claimed to have suffered as a result of a manufacturing defect in his vehicle's airbag system. On June 30, 2004, a jury awarded Flury $250,000 for enhanced injury. DCC now appeals on the following three grounds: (1) The district court erred in denying DCC's motion for judgment as a matter of law under FED.R.CIV.P. 50; (2) The district court erred in allowing the testimony of Flury's accident reconstruction expert, Barry Riner ("Riner"); and (3) The district court failed to impose meaningful sanctions for spoliation of the subject vehicle. We agree that the district court failed to impose meaningful sanctions for plaintiff's spoliation of critical evidence and reverse on those grounds.¹

I. Background

Flury purchased a new 1996 Dodge Ram pickup truck, with no modifications to the airbag system, from Taylor Chrysler in Claxton, Georgia in the summer of 1996. On November 9, 1996, Flury fell asleep while driving the vehicle, drove off the road and crashed into a tree. Flury was wearing a seatbelt during the accident, but the vehicle's airbags did not deploy. Flury testified that he was traveling at approximately 55 miles per hour when he drove off the road. His truck went through a ditch, sideswiped a utility pole, proceeded through a fence, and then struck a pine tree. Flury estimated that the truck was traveling at 35 to 40 miles per hour when it hit the tree.

Riner, Plaintiff's accident reconstruction expert, testified that Flury must have hit the tree at greater than 15 miles per hour. Riner's opinion was based solely upon his observation of post-accident photographs and consideration of the accident report.² The accident report classified damage to Flury's vehicle as extensive. Photographs indicated that the vehicle hood was pushed up and that the bumper was pushed in.³ State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company ("State Farm") ultimately declared the vehicle a total loss. Riner concluded that Flury must have impacted the tree at over 15 miles per hour to incur that kind of damage.

Riner also presented testimony regarding airbags and what conditions cause them to deploy. He stated that in general, airbags are designed not to deploy when a vehicle collides at speeds less than 8 miles per hour; that airbags sometimes deploy at speeds between 8 and 14 miles per hour; and that airbags should always deploy at speeds of 15 miles per hour or greater. He further stated that his assessment applied most accurately to frontal collisions because the chance of airbag deployment decreases with the angle of collision. That is, the less direct the crash, the less chance that the airbag will deploy. Riner concluded that because Flury crashed head-on into a tree at greater than 15 miles per hour, his airbag should have deployed during the accident.

Dr. Dwayne.Clay ("Clay"), Flury's pain specialist, testified that forward flexion could have caused Flury's injury to be more serious. Clay was not allowed to testify that the airbag malfunctioned, or that the airbag would have prevented forward flexion because he lacked knowledge of airbag mechanics.

Following the accident, the vehicle was towed to Baxter's Paint and Body Shop. On November 22, 1996,⁴ Flury's counsel sent a letter to DCC notifying DCC of the accident and of the airbag's failure to deploy. The letter specifically directed DCC not to contact Flury without express consent of counsel.⁵ DCC replied to Flury's letter on January 3, 1997, requesting, among other things, the location of the vehicle for inspection purposes. By this time, the vehicle had apparently been removed to the residence of Flury's parents. Flury's counsel never responded to DCC's letter.⁶ Of course, DCC had no way of conducting any investigation without knowing the vehicle's location. The vehicle was eventually removed from Flury's parents' residence and sold for salvage by his insurer, State Farm. Counsel did not disclose the vehicle's location to DCC prior to its removal by State Farm, nor did he notify DCC of the planned removal. Flury had no knowledge of the vehicle's whereabouts after State Farm had removed it.⁷

As for Flury's injuries, he sought treatment five days after the accident from his general physician, Dr. Jerry Purcell. Flury complained of lower back pain, and Dr. Purcell diagnosed him with lumbar strain. Flury visited Dr. Purcell four times between November 14 and December 10, 1996. Four years later, on October 14, 2000, Flury visited the Evens Hospital Emergency room complaining again of back pain, which he claims started while he was lifting a tire. On March 14, 2002, Flury saw pain specialist, Dr. Dwayne Clay. Finally, in May 2002, Flury visited neurosurgeon, Dr. James Robinson, who performed surgery on Flury for a herniated disk on August 29, 2002.

II. Procedural history

On December 23, 2002, approximately six years after the accident, Flury filed a diversity suit in federal court against DCC for enhanced injury to his lower back.⁸ Flury claimed that the driver's airbag of his Dodge Ram was defective because it failed to deploy during the accident. He further claimed that the airbag's failure caused him greater injuries than he would have received if the airbag had deployed properly.

DCC deposed several of Flury's witnesses before trial, including Riner and Clay. DCC moved to exclude Clay's testimony under Fed.R.Evid. 702. Certain portions of Clay's testimony were consequently excluded from evidence pursuant to an order from the magistrate judge. Specifically, the order excluded that portion of his testimony pertaining to airbag mechanics, based on the conclusion that Clay lacked the requisite knowledge to present testimony on that subject. DCC also moved to exclude Riner's testimony under Fed.R.Evid. 702. The magistrate entered an order granting in part and denying in part DCC's motion. Specifically, the order excluded that portion of Riner's testimony regarding airbag system design and manufacture because Riner lacked sufficient training on that subject.

On March 15, 2004, DCC moved for summary judgment under Fed. R. Civ. Pro. 56. The court denied DCC's motion, and applied a balancing test to the issue of spoliation in order to determine whether or not dismissal was warranted on those grounds. The balancing test weighed the culpability of the spoliator against prejudice to the opposing party. See Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire, LLC v. Campbell, 258 Ga.App. 767, 574 S.E.2d 923, 927 (2002). The court did not delve specifically into the Bridgestone/Firestone factors, but rather focused on the relative culpability of the parties. The court determined that DCC had several months to follow up on its request to inspect the vehicle, therefore, DCC shared some of the culpability and dismissal was not warranted.

Instead of dismissing Flury's case, the court instructed the jury to apply a rebuttable presumption that the evidence not preserved, in this case the vehicle, was unfavorable to the party responsible for spoliation. Thus, if the jury found that Flury was responsible for spoliation before DCC had an opportunity to inspect it, the jury should presume that the vehicle was not defective. The court did not find plaintiff responsible for spoliation and in fact suggested that defendant was partly to blame. The court ultimately left the issue of spoliation to the jury.⁹

Trial began on June 28, 2004, and at the close of Flury's case in chief, DCC moved for judgment as a matter of law under Fed.R.Civ.P. 50. The district court withheld judgment on the motion, and the jury ultimately awarded Flury $250,000. DCC subsequently renewed its motion for judgment as a matter of law, and the motion was denied.

III. Spoliation Sanctions

We review the district court's decision regarding spoliation sanctions for abuse of discretion. See Chambers v. NASCO, Inc., 501 U.S. 32, 55, 111 S.Ct. 2123, 2138, 115 L.Ed.2d 27 (1991); see also Harris v. Chapman, 97 F.3d 499, 506 (11th Cir.1996)(district court's denial of sanctions reviewed for abuse of discretion). This case hinges upon the significance of the evidence destroyed, and upon the extreme prejudice the defendant suffered as a result. Although the district court is afforded a considerable amount of discretion in imposing sanctions, we believe the extraordinary nature of plaintiff's actions coupled with extreme prejudice to the defendant warrants dismissal.

Plaintiff failed to preserve an allegedly defective vehicle in a crashworthiness case. The vehicle was, in effect, the most crucial and reliable evidence available to the parties at the time plaintiff secured representation and notified defendant of the accident.¹⁰ By the time plaintiff filed suit, years after the accident had taken place, plaintiff had allowed the vehicle to be sold for salvage despite a request from defendant for the vehicle's location. For these reasons, we believe the resulting prejudice to the defendant incurable, and dismissal necessary.

i. Choice of Law

This is a diversity suit, therefore, we must determine as a threshold matter whether to apply state or federal law. See Hanna v. Plumer, 380 U.S. 460, 85 S.Ct. 1136, 14 L.Ed.2d 8 (1965). Courts are split as to the question of whether state or federal law governs the...