Buell-Wilson v. Ford Motor Co.

• Decision Date: 10 March 2008
• Docket Number: No. D045579.,No. D045154.,D045154.,D045579.
• Citation: 160 Cal.App.4th 1107,73 Cal.Rptr.3d 277
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: Benetta BUELL-WILSON et al., v. FORD MOTOR COMPANY et al., Defendants and Appellants.

73 Cal.Rptr.3d 277

160 Cal.App.4th 1107

Benetta BUELL-WILSON et al., v. FORD MOTOR COMPANY et al., Defendants and Appellants.

No. D045154.

No. D045579.

Court of Appeal, Fourth District, Division 1.

March 10, 2008.

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr., William E. Thomson, Los

Angeles, Eileen M. Ahern and Theodore B. Olson, for Defendants and Appellants.

Arnold & Porter, Ronald C. Redcay, Los Angeles, Murray R. Garnick, Robert A. McCarter; National Chamber Litigation Center, Robin S. Conrad and Amar D. Sarwal, for the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Appellants.

Mayer Brown and Donald M. Falk, Palo Alto, for the Product Liability Advisory Council, Inc., as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Appellants.

Howard, Rice, Nemerovski, Canady, Falk & Rabkin, Jerome B. Falk, Jr., Steven L. Mayer, Keith D. Kessler, San Francisco; Schoville & Arnell, Dennis A. Schoville, Louis G. Arnell, San Diego, and James S. Iagmin, for Plaintiffs and Respondents.

NARES, J.

This case is before us for a second time, after a GVR¹ order from the United States Supreme Court directed that we reconsider our original opinion in Buell-Wilson v. Ford Motor Company (2006) 141 Cal.App.4th 525, 46 Cal.Rptr.3d 147 (Buell-Wilson I) in light of Philip Morris USA v. Williams (2007)-549 U.S. ___, 127 S.Ct. 1057, 166 L.Ed.2d 940 (Philip Morris). Philip Morris holds that upon request, courts must adopt procedures to ensure juries do not punish defendants for harm caused to third parties when determining the amount of punitive damages to award. The Supreme Court also reiterated, however, juries could consider harm to third parties in determining the reprehensibility of a defendant's conduct.

Ford asserts that based on Philip Morris it is entitled to a new trial (or at least a further reduction in the punitive damages award) because there is a "significant risk" the punitive damages verdict in this case was based on improper evidence and arguments concerning third party harm. Ford also asserts that we should reconsider our original decision's rejection of its arguments that (1) California's punitive damages statute (Civil Code section 3294) is unconstitutionally vague as applied to this case, and (2) the trial court erred in excluding its industry custom and practice evidence. We granted permission to the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America (the Chamber) and the Product Liability Advisory Council, Inc. (PLAC) to file amicus curiae briefs to support Ford's contentions on remand.

We have reconsidered our decision in Buell-Wilson I in light of Philip Morris. Based on our analysis of Philip Morris and our review of our original decision and the proceedings in the trial court, we conclude Philip Morris does not compel a reversal or a further reduction of the punitive damages awarded in this case. Ford has forfeited the right to assert there is a significant risk the punitive damages verdict in this case was based on improper evidence and arguments concerning third party harm because Ford (1) submitted incorrect and misleading jury instructions on third party harm; (2) did not timely object to plaintiffs' closing argument at the punitive damages phase of the trial; (3) did not request a limiting instruction during the liability phase of the trial; and (4) did not raise instructional error as an issue on its original appeal. We also conclude our original decision reduced the punitive damages award to a constitutionally permissible amount that does not punish Ford for harm to third parties. We hold there was no evidence or argument at trial that created a significant risk that the jury, in deciding the amount of punitive damages to award, punished Ford for harm it caused to third parties. Finally, we conclude Philip Morris does not require that we change any of the holdings in our original opinion, and thus, with some changes, "we reiterate [our original opinion] in its entirety." (People v. Velasquez (1980) 28 Cal.3d 461, 462, 171 Cal.Rptr. 507, 622 P.2d 952.)

INTRODUCTION

Benetta Buell-Wilson (Mrs. Wilson) brought this action against Ford Motor Company (Ford) and Drew Ford (Drew)² as a result of the rollover and roof crush of her Ford Explorer (Explorer) that left her a paraplegic. Mrs. Wilson's husband Barry Wilson (Mr. Wilson) brought a claim for loss of consortium against Ford and Drew. A jury found in favor of Mrs. Wilson and Mr. Wilson (together the Wilsons), finding that (1) the Explorer was defectively unstable; (2) the Explorer was not crashworthy due to a defect in the roof; (3) Drew failed to warn the Wilsons that the Explorer was defectively unstable; and (4) Ford and Drew failed to warn the Wilsons of the danger posed by the defect in the roof. The jury awarded Mrs. Wilson $109,606,004 in damages for her injuries, consisting of $4,606,004 in economic damages and $105 million in noneconomic damages, and awarded Mr. Wilson $13 million for his loss of consortium. The jury also found that Ford acted with "oppression, fraud or malice" and awarded the Wilsons $246 million in punitive damages. The court later reduced Mrs. Wilson's total compensatory damages award to $70 million, resulting in an award of $4,606,004 in economic damages and $65,393,996 in noneconomic damages. The court reduced Mr. Wilson's loss of consortium damages to $5 million. The court reduced the punitive damages award to $75 million, a one-to-one ratio to the Wilsons' total reduced award of compensatory damages.

On appeal Ford asserts (1) it is entitled to a new trial because the court erroneously admitted evidence about stability problems with a predecessor vehicle, the Ford Bronco II (Bronco II), and erroneously excluded evidence of the Explorer's "real-world" safety record and comparative data; (2) the noneconomic portion of the compensatory damages award was excessive and an unconstitutional violation of Ford's due process rights; (3) punitive damages were improperly awarded because (a) at most the Wilsons proved that "reasonable people could disagree regarding" the design decisions Ford made, and (b) California's punitive damages law is unconstitutionally vague as applied; and (4) the punitive damages award was excessive and the product of improper considerations. We granted permission to the Chamber, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers (AAM) and the PLAC to file amicus curiae briefs to support Ford's contentions on appeal.³

We hold that (1) the award of noneconomic damages to Mrs. Wilson, as reduced by the trial court, is excessive under California law, is the product of "passion or prejudice," and must be reduced to $18 million; (2) the reduced award for loss of consortium in the amount of $5 million is reasonable and is affirmed; and (3) the award of punitive damages is excessive, violates federal due process limitations, and must be reduced to $55 million, a ratio of approximately two to one to the total compensatory damage award, after our reduction, of $27,606,004 ($4,606,004 in economic damages + $18 million in noneconomic damages + $5 million for loss of consortium). We issue a remittitur conditioning affirmance of the judgment on the Wilsons' agreement to those reductions. Thus, if the Wilsons accept the remittitur, the total judgment will be reduced to $82,606,004 ($4,606,004 in economic damages + $18 million in noneconomic damages + $5 million in loss of consortium + $55 million in punitive damages). We reject the remainder of the arguments made by Ford and amici curiae.⁴

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. The Accident

At around 5:00 p.m. on January 19, 2002, Mrs. Wilson, a married 46-year-old graduate student and mother of two, was driving her 1997 four-door Explorer within the speed limit on Interstate 8 near Alpine, California. The road was dry and sloped slightly downhill.

Suddenly, Mrs. Wilson saw what appeared to be a metal object break loose from a motor home in front of her and bounce directly toward her windshield. As she swerved to avoid the object, the wheels on the passenger side lifted from the road, and the Explorer went out of control. The vehicle fishtailed multiple times across lanes and rolled four and a half times, coming to rest on its roof on the road's shoulder. Ford conceded at trial that Mrs. Wilson bore no fault for the accident.

As the Explorer rolled, its roofs pillars and rails crumpled, and the roof crushed down more than 10 inches, causing severe injuries to Mrs. Wilson. Inside the vehicle, she hung upside down from her seatbelt, in "crushing ... unbelievable pain," gasping for breath and feeling as if her life were fading away. Motorists stopped to assist and struggled to flip the vehicle, and rescue crews cut the roof open to remove her. An ambulance took her from the scene to a life flight helicopter, which flew her to Sharp Memorial Hospital (Sharp) trauma center.

B. Mrs. Wilson's Injuries

1. Physical injuries

The compressive forces from the collapsing roof fractured and severed Mrs. Wilson's spine at the T12 level, where the thoracic and lumbar regions meet. She will never recover sensation or function below the level of that injury. She also suffered facial injuries, fractured ribs, a cut spleen that caused internal bleeding, a fractured leg and torn PCL and ACL ligaments in both knees, causing bilateral knee dislocations.

In addition to the vertebral fractures, the spinal sac was damaged, causing leaking of cerebral spinal fluid, and portions of the spinal cord and nerve root were pulverized. Doctors inserted metal screws and rods into her back to stabilize her upper body. After almost two weeks, she was transferred to Sharp's rehabilitation center, where she spent another two and a half months.

Mrs. Wilson's resulting paraplegia ended her active life and forced her to painfully relearn basic aspects of daily living, some of which she will never regain. She lives in severe and constant pain that will...