Hale v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co.
| Decision Date | 04 June 1987 |
| Docket Number | No. 86-1679,86-1679 |
| Parties | , 23 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 582, Prod.Liab.Rep.(CCH)P 11,418 Larry HALE, Linda Hale, Appellees, v. FIRESTONE TIRE & RUBBER COMPANY, The Budd Company, Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Thomas P. Shult, Kansas City, Mo., for appellant.
John C. Risjord, Kansas City, Mo., for appellees.
Before HEANEY, Circuit Judge, FLOYD R. GIBSON, Senior Circuit Judge, and BOWMAN, Circuit Judge.
The Budd Company (Budd) appeals from a final judgment entered in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri upon a jury verdict in an exploding rim case brought by Larry Hale and his wife, Linda Hale. The Hales were awarded $1,733,800 in actual and punitive damages from Budd. For reversal, Budd argues that the district court abused its discretion in 1) admitting into evidence a videotape prepared by the Hales' counsel depicting a mannequin being "killed" by a rim separation; 2) denying Budd's motion for a mistrial prompted by counsel for the Hales alleged "spectacle" during trial; 3) admitting evidence of other accidents involving RH5? multi-piece rims; 4) its rulings on testimony as to whether the tire rim introduced into evidence was the actual rim that caused Larry Hale's injuries; and 5) denying Budd's motions for directed verdict and judgment notwithstanding the verdict on the issue of punitive damages. Budd also asserts it was deprived of a fair trial because the trial court was biased against the RH5? rim and was frustrated in having to preside over the third trial of this case. We affirm in part and reverse in part.
Larry Hale was injured on October 4, 1977, when a RH5? multi-piece tire rim separated under pressure and struck him. The accident occurred while Hale was inflating a tubed tire mounted on the outer dual RH5? rim of his 1968 Ford F-600 ten-wheel truck. The RH5? rim consists of three parts: a rim base, a side ring, and a disc. Firestone manufactured the rim base and side ring. Budd manufactured the disc, attached the disc to the Firestone rim, and sold the rim/disc combination.
In 1978, the Hales brought an action against Firestone on a strict liability theory. Budd was added as a defendant in 1982. After approximately a two-week jury trial, the Hales were awarded $4,290,000 in actual and punitive damages from Firestone and Budd. Firestone and Budd appealed, and this Court reversed the judgment. See Hale v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., 756 F.2d 1322 (8th Cir.1985) (Hale I ).
In 1985, the parties tried the case a second time before the same district court judge, the Honorable Scott O. Wright. After another approximately two-week trial, Judge Wright declared a mistrial when the jury could not decide whether Plaintiff's Exhibit 1 was the rim involved in the accident.
Just prior to the third trial, Firestone and the Hales reached a settlement for $625,000. The third two-week trial before Judge Wright began against Budd alone on March 3, 1986. The jury awarded Larry Hale $679,000 and Linda Hale $225,000 in actual damages and assessed $1.5 million in punitive damages. The jury also found that Larry Hale was five percent at fault for his injuries. After deducting five percent and crediting Budd $625,000 for the Firestone settlement, the court entered judgment in favor of the Hales in the amount of $1,733,800. 636 F.Supp. 585. Budd appeals.
Budd first argues that the district court abused its discretion in permitting the Hales to show the jury a four-minute videotape depicting a tire rim separation. The videotape was prepared by the Hales' counsel with the assistance of a cameraman and the Hales' expert witness, consulting engineer Donald Gibson. Using a life-size mannequin, the tape depicts a man, crouched next to a truck, filling a tire with air. The tire then explodes, striking the mannequin and hurling it approximately ten feet in a cloud of smoke. The explosion is repeated two more times and concludes with a closeup shot of the mannequin's face.
Budd argues that 1) the videotape exaggerated the force of explosion because the experimental tire was inflated to approximately seventy-five pounds per square inch (psi) while the accident tire was inflated to no more than fifty-five psi, and 2) the four-minute trial tape is an edited summary of two days of filming, and Budd was not afforded an opportunity to view the "master" tape. In countering Budd's assertions, the Hales argue that: 1) the twenty psi difference between the experimental explosion and the real explosion is only slight, and 2) there is no complete tape of the filming because the cameraman simply taped over the approximately six attempts required to achieve the explosion depicted in the trial tape.
This Court considered the law regarding evidence of experiments in Hale I:
Evidence of experimental tests is not admissible unless a foundational showing is made that the tests were conducted under conditions substantially similar to actual conditions. The admissibility of such evidence rests largely in the discretion of the trial judge and his decision will not be overturned absent a clear showing of an abuse of discretion.
Hale I, 756 F.2d at 1333 (quoting Collins v. B.F. Goodrich Co., 558 F.2d 908, 910 (8th Cir.1977)). See Petty v. Ideco, Division of Dresser Industries, Inc., 761 F.2d 1146 (5th Cir.1985).
In our view, the district court did not abuse its discretion in permitting the videotape to be introduced in evidence. According to the Hales' expert, the mannequin in the film was approximately the same size and weight as Larry Hale. The mannequin was crouched next to an RH5? rim and tire on the axel of a truck, just as Larry Hale was at the time of the accident. Although the tire in the experiment was inflated to twenty more pounds per square inch than the tire in the accident, this difference does not render an otherwise substantially similar demonstration inadmissible, but rather goes to the weight of the evidence. The tire in the experiment was one size smaller than the tire on Larry Hale's truck, 900 X 20 rather than 1000 X 20, and, according to the Hales' expert Dr. Donald Gibson, the explosion force of the smaller tire is somewhat less than the force of the larger tire. Tr. 724. We are satisfied that the trial court balanced the tire size differential against the psi differential and did not abuse its discretion in determining that "the videotape demonstration was relevant because it was made under conditions very similar to the conditions involved in the actual accident." District court order denying new trial at 1 (April 25, 1986). Additionally, Budd had ample opportunity to cross-examine Dr. Gibson as to the consequences of the difference in inflation pressure and tire size but chose not to explore those differences.
Finally, the trial court's finding that "the master tape was not intentionally withheld from defendant, but instead was unavailable because it had been erased during the editing process" was not clearly erroneous. While it would have been better had the Hales' counsel instructed the cameraman to save all the film footage, Budd was not prejudiced by this omission. Budd had every opportunity to cross-examine Dr. Gibson as to the number of attempts required before the tire exploded.
Budd argues that the trial court abused its discretion in not declaring a mistrial based on an alleged "spectacle" staged by the Hales' counsel concerning the threat posed to all present in the courtroom by Budd's exhibit, a "loaded" RH5? tire and rim.
The exhibit consisted of two RH5? rims and tires mounted on an axle. Brought into the courtroom on the morning of the sixth day of trial, the exhibit was introduced to assist Budd's expert, Dr. Robert Harold, in his testimony that Plaintiff's Exhibit 1, a tire rim assembly, could not be the accident rim. Budd claims the tires were inflated in order to keep the parts properly aligned while Dr. Harold referred to the exhibit during his testimony.
Budd alleges that counsel's prejudicial spectacle occurred just after Budd introduced the exhibit. Upon learning that the tires contained air, the Hales' counsel exclaimed: Tr. 874. A short while later, he exclaimed: "Why should the jury and the rest of us have to take that chance?" Tr. 874-75.
Budd's counsel replied: Tr. 875. Later, the Hales' counsel stated: "[C]ounsel said he was willing to take a chance but I don't think my client and his wife have to and I don't think this jury should have to." Tr. 875.
A bench conference followed this interchange during which Budd's counsel explained: "If this wheel blows up the case is over, and there's not going to be anybody hurt and that's the whole thing." Tr. 876. The trial court allowed Budd's counsel to continue with his direct examination of Dr. Harold. The inflated wheel remained in the courtroom.
A short time later, Budd's counsel asked Dr. Harold to remove the wheel from the axel. The Hales' attorney interjected: Tr. 882-83. The court did not respond, and Budd's attorney continued to examine the expert. During this time, apparently, the Hales' attorney moved his clients to "safer" spots in the courtroom away from the exhibit.
Budd argues that this "spectacle" distracted the jury from expert testimony on the issue that resulted...
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