American Laundry Machinery Industries v. Horan

• Decision Date: 05 March 1980
• Docket Number: No. 757,757
• Citation: 45 Md.App. 97,412 A.2d 407
• Parties: AMERICAN LAUNDRY MACHINERY INDUSTRIES v. Timothy Edward HORAN et al.
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

Page 97

45 Md.App. 97

412 A.2d 407

AMERICAN LAUNDRY MACHINERY INDUSTRIES

v. Timothy Edward HORAN et al.

No. 757.

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland.

March 5, 1980.

Donald C. Allen, Baltimore, with whom were Allen, Theiblot & Alexander, Baltimore, on the brief, for appellant.

Max R. Israelson, Baltimore, with whom were Samuel O. Jackson, Jr. and Israelson & Jackson, P. A., Baltimore, on the brief, for appellee, Horan.

George L. Russell, Jr., Baltimore, for appellee, Jessop.

Alva P. Weaver, III, Baltimore, for appellee, Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, Inc.

James M. Gabler, Baltimore, for appellee, Up-to-Date Laundry, Inc.

Argued before MOYLAN, MOORE and WILNER, JJ.

WILNER, Judge.

This is a "products liability" case; it is a most unusual one, and also a most tragic one.

Timothy Horan was a balloonist the "up, up, and away" kind. He owned a large hot air balloon that, for fun and profit, he used in various promotional events.

In October, 1976, Mr. Horan was engaged to fly his balloon in order to advertise or promote the Shrine Circus. The person representing the Circus in this was one William Stair, who also happened to own the Up-to-Date Laundry. As an inducement to Mr. Horan, Mr. Stair promised to clean the balloon if it got dirty, which, indeed, it did. Unfortunately, however, Mr. Stair's laundry did not have a machine large enough to handle the balloon. It should be explained at this point that the actual balloon part (sans cable and gondola) was made of a urethane coated nylon fabric. Although, when inflated, it was about 55 feet in diameter, and enveloped 5,500 cubic feet of air, it could be folded neatly into a bundle approximately 3 1/2 feet wide by 1 1/2 feet high and, when so folded, fit into a canvas bag. It weighed about 128 pounds.

As in most professions, there is a certain camaraderie among laundrymen, and Stair, through his subordinates at Up-to-Date, learned that Sinai Hospital had a machine large enough to wash Horan's balloon. In return for past favors done by Up-to-Date, Sinai agreed to handle this item; and so, on October 25, 1976, Mr. Horan, accompanied by Fred Jessop, a vice-president and manager of Up-to-Date, took the balloon to the laundry room at Sinai Hospital.

A number of Sinai employees were, of course, at work there among them Edwin Zimmerman, the laundry manager, Steven Sebree, his assistant, and Ronald Scott, a "washman." In its collapsed state, the balloon was washed without incident. It was then put in the dryer.

This dryer is known in the trade as a Notrux Extractor. It was manufactured and sold to Sinai in 1958 by appellant, the American Laundry Machinery Company, now a division of McGraw Edison. The design of this machine is a critical element in this case, and will be described in some detail shortly. Suffice it at this point to note that it contained three main elements. The first was the "basket." This consisted of two semi-circular metal bins into which the wet laundry would be placed. The two bins, each a self-contained unit, would then be coupled together to form one circular receptacle divided along its diameter. The laundry in one part of the basket was thus kept separate from that in the other part, an important factor in this case. The exterior skin of this "basket" was perforated; through the holes water could (and was supposed to) escape. The basket fit into the second element a round metal cylinder known as the "curb." This unit, itself stationary, spun the basket around inside of it at great speed 750 RPM which spinning action created an enormous centrifugal force that expelled the water from the laundry inside the basket. The "curb," in turn, was suspended from the floor by suspension rods housed in three large pylons or pedestals located equidistant around the curb. These pedestals were bolted to a steel slab that was itself bolted to the floor. The machine itself was thus immobile.

Anyone who has taken a course in high school physics, or has ever seen the family washing machine begin to shake rattle, and walk across the floor during the "spin" cycle, knows how powerful centrifugal force can be, and thus how important it is to balance the laundry load evenly. This is especially true with an 8,000-pound machine capable of spinning a 2,000-pound load (1,400 pounds of wet laundry and a 685-pound basket) at 750 revolutions per minute.

Thus, when the wet balloon (128 pounds dry weight) was put into one part of the basket, an equivalent amount of regular laundry was placed in the other part. The top was put on and the machine was started. It immediately "oscillated" i. e., it vibrated and it was immediately shut off. The Sinai washman Mr. Scott wet down the Sinai laundry to add some weight to it and even out the balance, and the machine was started again. The same thing happened, and it was again shut down right away. More laundry and water was added, but, when restarted, it again shook and made a racket. Finally, on the fourth try, the "oscillation" tapered off. The machine ran smoothly for less than a minute when, without warning, it suddenly, instantaneously, came wildly apart and disintegrated, strewing shrapnel throughout the room. The parties characterize what happened as an "explosion." One piece of flying metal virtually amputated Fred Jessop's left arm, wiping out his wrist completely. Timothy Horan had his abdomen sliced open.

The threshold question, of course, is what caused this to happen. In a combined action by Horan and Jessop in the Superior Court of Baltimore City, the court and jury, by their respective decisions, concluded that the accident was attributable to defects in the machine itself, and not to any act or omission of the persons operating it. This was made manifest when (1) a directed verdict was entered by the court in favor of Sinai and its employees, as defendants in the original actions by Horan and Jessop, and in favor of Horan, Jessop, and Up-to-Date Laundry, as defendants in a third-party action brought by appellant; (2) the jury returned a verdict in favor of Horan against appellant for $335,425 ($210,425 in compensatory damages and $125,000 in punitive damages); and (3) it also returned a verdict in favor of Jessop against appellant in the amount of $874,637 ($674,637 in compensatory damages and $200,000 in punitive damages). ¹ The case against appellant was submitted to the jury on issues; and, with respect to each plaintiff, it found liability on the basis of both negligence and strict liability.

Appellant is obviously displeased with this result, and so it has appealed. It claims:

"I. There Was Insufficient Evidence of Negligence To Allow The Jury To Consider That Issue.

II. The Doctrine of Strict Liability Is Unconstitutional Generally And, As Applied Here, Specifically.

III. Even Assuming That Strict Liability Is A Constitutionally Permissible Doctrine It Is Not Applicable In This Case.

IV. Directed Verdicts Should Not Have Been Entered In Favor Of Sinai Hospital, Frederick Jessop and Up-To-Date Laundry.

V. Punitive Damages Could Not Be Properly Assessed In This Case.

VI. The Jury Was Allowed To Consider Financial Resources Not Relevant To The Case.

VII. The Court's Rulings On The Admissibility Of Evidence Were Improper."

We shall deal with these in the order presented, although, as will soon become apparent, it will not be necessary to decide the second, third, or sixth issues.

(1) Evidence of Negligence

In Moran v. Fabergee, 273 Md. 538, p. 543, 332 A.2d 11, p. 15 (1975), the Court of Appeals concluded that "a manufacturer's duty to produce a safe product, with appropriate warnings and instructions when necessary, is no different from the responsibility each of us bears to exercise due care to avoid unreasonable risk of harm to others." As a result, the Court noted that "consumer suits" have been permitted against manufacturers based "purely on negligence concepts" for "defective design, negligent production, and failure to warn (or adequately warn) of latent dangers." Id., at 543, 332 A.2d at 15.

The actions by Horan and Jessop against appellant were indeed based in part upon a negligence theory, the particular negligence alleged being that of defective design and failure to warn of latent danger. Appellant claims that the evidence adduced in support of that theory was insufficient to permit it to be considered by the jury in other words, that the court erred in denying its motion for directed verdict.

The standard to be applied in this regard is that stated in Fowler v. Smith, 240 Md. 240, 213 A.2d 549 (1965), as restated in Curley v. General Valet Service, 270 Md. 248, 311 A.2d 231 (1973), and confirmed in Beahm v. Shortall, 279 Md. 321, 368 A.2d 1005 (1977); namely:

". . . (N)egligence is a relative term, to be decided upon the facts of each particular case; that ordinarily it is a question of fact to be determined by the jury; that before it can be determined as a matter of law that one has not been guilty of negligence, the truth of all the credible evidence tending to sustain the claim of negligence must be assumed and all favorable inferences of fact fairly deducible therefrom tending to establish negligence drawn; that 'Maryland has gone almost as far as any jurisdiction that we know of in holding that meager evidence of negligence is sufficient to carry the case to the jury;' that the rule requires submission of the case to the jury if there be any evidence, however slight, legally sufficient as tending to prove negligence, the weight and value of such evidence being left to the jury . . . . The test of legal sufficiency, we have held, 'is whether the evidence serves to prove a fact or permits an inference of fact that could enable an ordinarily intelligent mind to draw a rational conclusion therefrom in support of the right of the plaintiff to recover.' (citation omitted)."

See also Impala Platinum v. Impala Sales, 283 Md. 296, 329, 389 A.2d 887 (1978); Summit Loans, Inc....