Cooper Industries, Inc. v. Melendez

• Decision Date: 03 November 2000
• Docket Number: Record No. 992957.
• Parties: COOPER INDUSTRIES, INC., et al. v. Andres MELENDEZ.
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court

537 S.E.2d 580

260 Va. 578

COOPER INDUSTRIES, INC., et al. v. Andres MELENDEZ.

Record No. 992957.

Supreme Court of Virginia.

November 3, 2000.

John Y. Pearson, Jr., Norfolk; John Charles Thomas, Richmond (Kevin L. Keller, Virginia Beach; Daniel T. Campbell, Norfolk; Willcox & Savage; Hunton & Williams, Richmond, on briefs), for appellants.

Bruce D. Rasmussen (Kevin W. Ryan; M. Bryan Slaughter; Michie, Hamlett, Lowry, Rasmussen & Tweel, on brief), Charlottesville, for appellee.

Present: All the Justices.

KINSER, Justice.

In this product liability case, we address issues concerning proximate causation, misuse of a product, the statute of repose, and a trial court's discretion to send a jury back for further deliberations when a juror expresses disagreement with the verdict during a poll of the jury. Because we find no error, we will affirm the judgment of the circuit court, which was in accordance with a jury verdict in favor of the injured plaintiff.

MATERIAL PROCEEDINGS

This product liability action arose out of an explosion of an industrial circuit breaker, known as a K-Don 600 amp circuit breaker, located in Vault 21 of Pier 23 at the Norfolk Naval Base on June 1, 1994. The explosion occurred as Andres Melendez, Jr., a civil employee of the Navy's Public Works Center, his supervisor, and a co-worker were "racking" or installing the circuit breaker in an energized switchgear.¹ As a result of the explosion, Melendez and his supervisor were seriously burned, and the co-worker was killed.

Melendez filed a motion for judgment in the circuit court alleging negligence, breach of implied warranty, and strict liability against Cooper Industries, Inc., Arrow Hart, Inc., and Crouse-Hinds Co. (collectively Cooper), the manufacturer of the switchgear at issue in this case.² In its grounds of defense, Cooper raised an affirmative defense that Melendez's action was barred by the applicable statute of repose, Code § 8.01-250. Over Melendez's objection that the plea in bar involved disputed factual questions to be resolved by a jury, the circuit court conducted an evidentiary hearing and concluded that the statute of repose does not apply. Because one of Cooper's witnesses, Robert L. Smith, could not be present for that proceeding, the court agreed to reconsider the issue after hearing Smith's testimony at trial.

Following several days of trial, a jury returned a verdict in favor of Melendez in the amount of $5,000,000. After the court announced the verdict, Cooper requested a poll of the jurors. During that poll, one juror responded "No" when asked if that was his verdict. The court then instructed the jurors, "Well, ladies and gentleman, you're going to have to return to your jury room at this point. I had instructed you previously that your verdict must be unanimous." At that point, the foreperson of the jury stated, "It was unanimous, Your Honor, when we was [sic] in that jury room." Thereupon, the court stated, "Ladies and gentleman, step back into your jury room, please." Cooper immediately moved for a mistrial. After approximately two minutes, the jury returned to the courtroom with the same verdict as the original. The court polled the jurors again, and this time, each juror, including the one who initially answered "No," responded "Yes, your Honor" to the question, "Is that your verdict?"

Following the trial, Cooper renewed its motion for a mistrial based on the result of the first jury poll and also moved to set aside the jury verdict on numerous grounds, including the issue regarding the statute of repose. After considering briefs and argument on both motions, the circuit court denied the motions and entered judgment in favor of Melendez in accordance with the jury verdict.³

In a letter opinion, the court explained its reasons for concluding, once again, that the statute of repose does not apply. Rejecting Cooper's comparison of the switchgear and circuit breaker at issue in this case to an electric panel box used in a private residence, the court concluded that the switchgear and circuit breaker are "equipment or machinery" within the purview of Code § 8.01-250 and not ordinary building materials. The court described the switchgear, which is designed to hold 10 circuit breakers, as a "metal cabinet ... 8'6" in height, 8'9" wide, and 5'2" deep." The court further stated that the circuit breaker "measure[d] 20.5" in height, 26.5" deep, and ... 14" wide."

Continuing, the court advised the parties that it had considered an owner's manual and instructions regarding the installation and use of the circuit breaker in question, a shop drawing prepared by Cooper depicting the switchgear, and the Navy's contract specifications for the equipment.⁴ The court noted that the detailed instructions included in the owner's manual probably would not have been provided for ordinary building materials. The court further reasoned that the Navy's specifications, such as the direction to put nameplates on the equipment showing, among other things, the manufacturer's name; to supply "a switchgear with drawout (removable) circuit breakers"; to provide equipment that is "established standard tested products of the manufacturer, thoroughly coordinated and integrated by the manufacturer [with] the ratings of all equipment and components ... guaranteed and published by the manufacturer"; and "[t]o factory test and certify the primary and secondary (circuit breaker portion) switchgear sections" tended to remove the items in question from the category of ordinary building materials.

We awarded Cooper this appeal on the following assignments of error: (1) that the circuit court erred in refusing to set aside the jury verdict because Melendez did not establish a causal connection between the alleged breach of warranty and his injuries; (2) that the court erred in refusing to set aside the verdict because both Melendez and the Navy misused the electrical gear; (3) that the court erred in deciding that the statute of repose does not bar Melendez's action to recover for his bodily injuries; (4) that the circuit court erred in refusing to grant a mistrial when a juror responded "No" during the poll of the jury because the responses showed that the verdict was not unanimous; and (5) that the court erred in denying Cooper's motion for a mistrial because the court's instructions to the jury after the poll "in essence required unanimity."

FACTS

In accordance with well-established principles, we recite the facts in the light most favorable to Melendez, the prevailing party at trial. Rice v. Charles, 260 Va. 157, 161, 532 S.E.2d 318, 320 (2000). "The verdict of the jury in favor of [Melendez], upon which the trial court entered judgment, settles all conflicts of testimony in [his] favor and entitles [him] to all just inferences deducible therefrom. Fortified by the jury's verdict and the judgment of the court, [he] occupies the most favored position known to the law." Pugsley v. Privette, 220 Va. 892, 901, 263 S.E.2d 69, 76 (1980) (citing Tri-State Coach Corp. v. Walsh, 188 Va. 299, 303, 49 S.E.2d 363, 365 (1948)).

In the late 1970's, the Navy undertook a renovation of its piers, including Pier 23, at its naval base in Norfolk. With the advent of a nuclear-powered Navy, the existing electrical services on the piers were not adequate to meet the electrical demands of the changing fleet. That renovation took place 17 years before the explosion at issue in this case.

Pier 23, where the explosion occurred, originally contained three electrical vaults referred to as "Vaults 1, 2, and 3." During the renovation, three additional vaults were added, and the switchgear in each of the existing vaults was upgraded to match the switchgear being installed in the new vaults. Those new vaults were numbered 20, 21, and 22. Vault 21 contained the circuit breaker that exploded.

The top of Pier 23 is a deck where trucks and machinery can be driven and on which people can walk. One of the Navy's goals during the renovation was to remove any obstructions on the deck in order to accommodate the traffic on the pier needed to supply and maintain ships and submarines. Thus, according to Cooper's witness, Robert L. Smith, a retired electrical engineer who prepared the design drawings of the electrical system for the renovation project, the plan was to remove switchgear from the top of the pier's deck and place it underneath the pier.⁵

A switchgear, such at the one located in Vault 21, is a large metal enclosure that contains many component parts, including circuit breakers. Electrical power flows into the switchgear through a circuit breaker and goes out via a large cable on top of the pier to a submarine docked at the pier. One end of the cable is plugged into a receptacle located in a box, called a "turtle back," that sits on the deck, and the other end is connected to the submarine. The purpose of this system is to enable a submarine to be moored at the pier and draw electrical power from the shore instead of having to run its engines and generators to supply electrical power.

Cooper's expert witness, Roger Bledsoe, agreed as to the purpose of the electrical system. He testified at the hearing on the statute of repose that the switchgear in this case was to provide electrical power "from the land" to a submarine docked at the pier. When asked whether the switchgear and circuit breaker served any function with regard to the pier, Bledsoe responded, "That's what it sounds like. It sounds like it's through the ship."

John Kuzmack qualified as an expert on the subject of circuit breakers at the hearing on the statute of repose. He had previously worked for the manufacturer of the ITE Don circuit breaker at issue in this case. Kuzmack testified that a K-Don circuit breaker serves the same basic function as a circuit breaker used in a house, except that the K-Don breaker is significantly larger. The circuit breaker at issue was a finished product, tested...