Caterpillar Tractor Co. v. Beck

• Decision Date: 06 April 1979
• Docket Number: Nos. 3066,3068,s. 3066
• Citation: 593 P.2d 871
• Parties: CATERPILLAR TRACTOR CO., Appellant, v. Paula BECK, Appellee. Paula BECK, Cross-Appellant, v. CATERPILLAR TRACTOR CO., Cross-Appellee.
• Court: Alaska Supreme Court

Page 871

593 P.2d 871

CATERPILLAR TRACTOR CO., Appellant, v. Paula BECK, Appellee.

Paula BECK, Cross-Appellant, v. CATERPILLAR TRACTOR CO., Cross-Appellee.

Nos. 3066, 3068.

Supreme Court of Alaska.

April 6, 1979.

Lloyd I. Hoppner of Rice, Hoppner & Hedland, Fairbanks, Murphy L. Clark, Anchorage, for appellant and cross-appellee.

Theodore R. Dunn of Matthews, Dunn & Baily, Anchorage, O. Nelson Parrish of Parrish Law Office, Fairbanks, for appellee and cross-appellant.

Before BOOCHEVER, Chief Justice, RABINOWITZ, CONNOR, and BURKE, Justices, and DIMOND, Senior Justice.

OPINION

CONNOR, Justice.

On June 24, 1973, Derald Allen Beck was killed when the Caterpillar 944 front-end loader which he was operating rolled over an embankment. Decedent's widow, Paula Beck, brought this action against Caterpillar Tractor Company (hereinafter Caterpillar) for the wrongful death of her husband. Beck contended that Caterpillar's failure to equip the 944 loader with a roll-over protective shield (hereinafter ROPS) constituted a design defect in the loader, and because of that defect, Derald Beck suffered fatal injuries. Following a jury verdict in favor of Beck, judgment was entered against Caterpillar in the amount of $408,594.50. Caterpillar appeals from this judgment, specifying several errors by the trial court. Beck cross-appeals, alleging that it was error for the trial court to instruct the jury on Derald Beck's comparative negligence.

I. FACTS

The model 944 front-end loader was designed by Caterpillar in the late 1950's and was first sold in 1964. It was the first model of Caterpillar's wheel loaders to be produced, and subsequent models have now replaced it. The particular loader involved in the accident was originally delivered by Caterpillar in 1964 to a dealer, Northern Commercial Company, as a standard model machine without a cab.

At the time of the accident, Derald Beck was a partner in R. W. Beck & Sons, d/b/a Nenana Excavators. Nenana Excavators bought the 944 loader as used equipment from the Northern Commercial Company in 1967. The ten ton loader was equipped with a fiberglass all-weather shell, without supporting members, which was attached by bolts to the body of the machine. ¹

Although there were no witnesses to the accident, an investigating state trooper testified that Derald Beck was apparently "roading" the loader in reverse, ² with the bucket in a raised position. The road was dirt and gravel with soft shoulders and wound around the side of a hill. On one side of the road there was an embankment of approximately seven feet. The trooper estimated that Beck was traveling at approximately 10 to 15 miles per hour as he proceeded up the road, but the loader then sank into the road shoulder and came almost to a complete stop. The loader apparently rolled over on its side and then flipped over 180 degrees and fell down the embankment. ³ Beck was crushed beneath the loader, pinned between the steering wheel and part of the seat. The fiberglass canopy was flattened out and parts of it were broken off.

Paula Beck, decedent's wife and personal representative, filed suit against Nenana Excavators for negligence in failing to provide safe equipment and against Caterpillar in strict liability. She alleged that Caterpillar's failure to manufacture the loader with a ROPS rendered the loader defective. Caterpillar denied that the loader was defectively designed because roll bar protective devices were not readily available at the time of design and because the loader was intended to be marketed as a basic structure to which the user, through his dealer, would add auxiliary parts as necessary for his particular use. Nenana Excavators was subsequently dismissed from the suit on its motion for a directed verdict because Derald Beck was a partner in the company and was, therefore, precluded from suing himself.

A ROPS is an overhead protective canopy which is constructed to withstand a roll-over and, thus, protect the operator from being crushed. In addition, a ROPS can decrease the risk of a roll-over. There was no dispute at trial that a ROPS, as developed at the time of the accident, would have saved Derald Beck's life. Beck would not have been crushed and a ROPS may have even prevented the loader from overturning. There was also no dispute that it is best from a cost and technological standpoint to have a ROPS installed by the loader manufacturer at the time of initial production. However, there was considerable dispute about the availability of a ROPS at the time Caterpillar produced this loader in 1964.

Various types of protective canopies were used in the heavy equipment industry for many years prior to the development of a ROPS, particularly in the logging industry. These canopies provided protection primarily from inclement weather and falling objects. Such devices were known in the industry by the name FOPS, falling object protective shield or structure. These shields were manufactured by several auxiliary equipment manufacturers at the time the 944 loader was produced. A FOPS did not have the capability to withstand a roll-over.

A consulting safety engineer, Ovid Holmes, appearing as an expert for Beck, testified that the heavy equipment industry began testing ROPS devices as early as 1961. Holmes had not heard of a FOPS, but testified that he believed that some of the canopies developed in the 1950's did have roll-over protection capability. Although other front-end loader manufacturers did not supply a ROPS as part of the standard equipment at that time, several auxiliary equipment manufacturers did offer them.

According to Holmes, two Caterpillar dealers in California were selling an auxiliary ROPS by 1961 and the Illinois Division of Highways, in the home state of Caterpillar, had installed such structures on some of its equipment in 1962. Holmes believed that there was nothing technologically difficult about manufacturing a ROPS in 1964, but that Caterpillar did not do so because it would have been too costly. An employee of an auxiliary equipment manufacturer also testified that pre-1965 canopies were available with roll-over protection capability. Further, he stated that some of the canopies available in 1956-1960 for overhead protection were mounted to the frame of the basic machine in such a manner that the risk of roll-over was minimized.

On the other hand, Caterpillar stated in its answer to an interrogatory of Beck, that "(p)rior to 1966, Caterpillar Tractor was not aware and is not aware of the availability of (ROPS) from anyone in the country." Although one Caterpillar senior staff engineer confirmed the Illinois Division of Highway utilization of ROPS, a manager of sales development, Jack Hasten, testified that he was unsure whether the Illinois canopy actually was a ROPS. Hasten also testified that the structural integrity of the type of canopies available in 1964 was such that it would have been irresponsible for Caterpillar to install them and represent them as having roll-over protection capability. In addition, he stated that there had been no need expressed for a ROPS. He claimed that users disliked attached canopies because the machines had a myriad of uses, some of which did not require a ROPS, and that a ROPS could be dangerous because it obstructed the operator's view and impeded his ability to jump free if the loader fell into water. Other Caterpillar staff engineers testified that there was no ROPS capability available at the design stages of the 944 loader.

Caterpillar, at the time of design and production of the 944 loader, made a "deliberate decision" not to install any kind of protective canopy whatsoever on the 944 as part of its basic design. It did begin testing the ROPS concept in 1966. By that time, several auxiliary equipment manufacturers were regularly producing ROPS. In response to various state and federal regulations promulgated shortly thereafter, ⁴ Caterpillar, in 1969, began installing ROPS as part of the basic vehicle model. No ROPS was ever made part of the 944 model manufactured by Caterpillar and the 944 loader went out of production in 1968 before Caterpillar began adding ROPS to its loaders.

By special verdict, the jury found that the absence of a ROPS was a design defect in the 944 loader and that such defect proximately caused the death of Derald Beck. Damages were set at $817,189.00. However, the jury also found that Derald Beck knew of the design defect and voluntarily and unreasonably proceeded to use the defective product. Since the jury deemed Beck to be 50% At fault for the accident by his knowing confrontation of the risk of harm, the total amount of damages awarded was reduced by half.

Appellant Caterpillar contends in this appeal that the trial court erred by (1) improperly instructing the jury on the law of strict liability for alleged design defects and refusing to define "defect" for the jury; (2) improperly instructing the jury on the law of comparative negligence; and (3) refusing certain evidence offered by Caterpillar during the course of the trial to show Caterpillar's marketing methods and decedent Beck's knowledge of the availability of a ROPS from another source. Each of these issues raise important questions in the area of products liability. As we explain below, we agree with Caterpillar's objection to some of the challenged instructions and evidentiary rulings and conclude that the judgment must be reversed. ⁵

II. DESIGN DEFECT

Caterpillar contends that the trial court erred in instructing the jury that "(a) design defect is one in which the product, however perfectly manufactured, incorporates or fails to incorporate a design feature with the result that injury is proximately caused thereby." ⁶ Caterpillar argues that the instruction misconstrues the law of strict liability in that it essentially instructs the jury on absolute liability: it does not instruct the jury that they must first find a defect in the...