Elsworth v. Beech Aircraft Corp.

• Decision Date: 17 December 1984
• Parties: , 691 P.2d 630, 53 USLW 2321 Doris ELSWORTH et al., Plaintiffs and Respondents, v. BEECH AIRCRAFT CORPORATION, Defendant and Appellant. Jo Ann MIRO et al., Plaintiffs and Respondents, v. BEECH AIRCRAFT CORPORATION, Defendant and Appellant. L.A. 31838
• Court: California Supreme Court

Page 874

208 Cal.Rptr. 874

37 Cal.3d 540, 691 P.2d 630, 53 USLW 2321

Doris ELSWORTH et al., Plaintiffs and Respondents, v. BEECH AIRCRAFT CORPORATION, Defendant and Appellant.

Jo Ann MIRO et al., Plaintiffs and Respondents, v. BEECH AIRCRAFT CORPORATION, Defendant and Appellant.

L.A. 31838.

Supreme Court of California

Dec. 17, 1984.

Rehearing Denied Jan. 16, 1985.

Morris, Polich & Purdy, Landon Morris, Robert S. Wolfe, Gerald P. Schneeweis, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Robert Forgnone, Los Angeles, for defendant and appellant.

Magana, Cathcart, McCarthy & Pierry, Daniel C. Cathcart, Deborah Mitzenmacher, Los Angeles, James F. Boccardo, Edward J. Niland and Stanley Ibler, San Jose, for plaintiffs and respondents.

MOSK, Justice.

Section 669 of the Evidence Code sets forth the doctrine commonly called negligence per se. It provides that negligence of a person is presumed if he violated a statute or regulation of a public entity, if the injury resulted from an occurrence that the regulation was designed to prevent, and if the person injured was within the class for whose protection the regulation was adopted. This presumption may be rebutted by proof that the violator did what might reasonably be expected of a person of ordinary prudence, acting under similar circumstances, who desired to comply with the law. ¹

The primary issue in this case is whether the doctrine may be applied to hold liable for defective design the manufacturer of an aircraft that allegedly violated safety standards promulgated by the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA), even though the agency had issued to the manufacturer a certificate declaring that the design of the airplane met all applicable safety standards. ²

In 1974 Edward O. Miro, an experienced pilot, took three prospective buyers on a demonstration flight in a Travel Air twin engine airplane manufactured by defendant Beech Aircraft Corporation (Beech). It was daylight, the weather was clear, and the winds were light. After takeoff, the airplane reached an altitude of 800 feet, made two right turns into the traffic pattern, then suddenly turned left out of the traffic pattern, fell over, and went into a spin. It recovered briefly, but fell again into a final flat spin and crashed seven minutes after takeoff. All aboard were killed.

When the Travel Air was found after the crash, it was discovered that Miro had turned off the left fuel selector, shut down the left engine, and feathered (i.e., streamlined in the direction of flight) the left propeller blades. The landing gear was in the "down" position, and the wing flaps were partially or all the way down. A thermostatic valve in the left engine was broken.

The wives and children of the three passengers filed wrongful death actions against Beech and Miro, and Miro's heirs filed an action against Beech. ³ Miro's insurer settled with the heirs of the passengers, and the trial proceeded against Beech. The heirs of the passengers and of Miro (hereafter plaintiffs) sought recovery on several theories, including negligence per se, alleging that the Travel Air did not comply with various safety regulations adopted by the FAA. ⁴

At the trial, plaintiffs claimed that the crash was caused by the stall of the airplane with the left engine feathered, and an inadequate stall warning system. According to expert testimony produced by plaintiffs, the stall resulted in a nonrecoverable flat spin caused by the undue spinning tendency of the airplane. Plaintiffs' witness surmised that Miro had feathered the left engine propeller because a valve in the left engine had failed, causing the instrument that measured oil to show a low operating pressure. In these circumstances, the propeller had to be feathered quickly to prevent the engine from coming apart, and to avoid a fire.

A test pilot who tested a Travel Air in preparation for the trial testified on behalf of plaintiffs that, with only one engine operating, the stall characteristics of the Travel Air were dangerous because of an undue tendency of the airplane to spin. He testified also that the stall warning light was inadequate. It was his opinion that the Travel Air failed to comply with five specified safety regulations of the FAA.

Beech attributed the crash to pilot error. Its witnesses testified that Miro had failed to maintain sufficient speed to prevent the airplane from entering into a nonrecoverable stall.

The FAA had certified the design of the Travel Air as complying with all applicable safety regulations. The aircraft first received a type certificate in 1957, after Beech employees conducted various inspections and tests and submitted to the FAA details regarding the construction and design of the airplane. Beech did not conduct tests for the spinning characteristics of the Travel Air because Harold Hermes, then the regional chief of the FAA's flight test branch, interpreted the safety regulations as not requiring spin testing for twin engine aircraft. In 1958 a Travel Air crashed, and the Washington headquarters of the FAA ordered that the aircraft be tested for its spinning characteristics. The spin testing was performed by a Beech employee, accompanied by a FAA test pilot. Following the test, FAA officials, including the test pilot, recommended that the certification for the Travel Air be continued, finding that it complied with all applicable safety regulations. This recommendation was accepted by the agency.

At the conclusion of a four-month trial, the court read to the jury five FAA safety regulations that plaintiffs alleged Travel Air failed to meet, and instructed that the jury must find Beech negligent if they found that the regulations were violated and that the violations proximately caused decedents' injuries, unless Beech justified its failure to comply. (BAJI No. 3.45 (6th ed. 1977).) After two weeks of deliberations, the jury returned a general verdict against Beech; two jurors voted in Beech's favor.

On this appeal from the ensuing judgment Beech claims that the court erred in instructing the jury on the doctrine of negligence per se, in admitting various items of evidence, and in refusing to grant Beech's motion for a new trial because of alleged jury misconduct.

Beech does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict on any of the theories of recovery advanced by plaintiffs. Nor does it assert that the jury should have been prohibited from giving any consideration to the question of Beech's compliance with the FAA safety regulations. It concedes that satisfaction of the FAA standards would not constitute a complete defense and the jury could have found Beech liable for defective design of the Travel Air even if it had complied with the FAA regulations, because the jury could have determined that such compliance was insufficient to absolve Beech's duty as a manufacturer. (See Wilson v. Piper Aircraft Corp. (1978) 282 Or. 61, 577 P.2d 1322.)

Rather, Beech's claim is that the jury should have been compelled to give determinative effect to the FAA decision that the Travel Air complied with all applicable safety regulations, and that it was error to give the negligence per se instruction to the effect that Beech was guilty of negligence if the Travel Air did not meet the regulations. Beech urges that the effect of the instruction was to allow the jury to second-guess the FAA decision that the Travel Air complied with the regulations, thereby intruding into a field preempted by federal law.

The FAA is required by the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to adopt minimum standards governing the design, construction and performance of aircraft. (49 U.S.C. § 1421(a)(1).) It has issued detailed regulations setting forth safety standards and the requirements that must be met by an airplane as to both design and testing before a type certificate may be issued (14 C.F.R. § 21.1 et seq. (1984).) The act authorizes the agency to delegate to any properly qualified person the examination, inspection and testing necessary to the issuance of a certificate. (49 U.S.C. § 1355(a)). Pursuant to that authorization the agency has permitted manufacturers to perform the tests necessary to assure that the regulations are met, and that the aircraft complies with all certification requirements. (14 C.F.R. §§ 21.21, 21.35.)

An experienced manufacturer with employees qualified in the various aspects of airplane design may qualify for the "delegation option" program, which allows the manufacturer's employees to act on behalf of the FAA to assure that all the appropriate tests and inspections for certification are performed. This procedure avoids the necessity for FAA personnel to repeat the tests and inspections required for certification. The manufacturer notifies the FAA whether the aircraft complies with safety regulations. The function of the FAA is largely to police compliance with the regulations, although it may perform the testing of an aircraft with its own personnel. (Id., § 21.33; United States v. S.A. Empresa de Viacao Aerea Rio Grandense (1984) --- U.S. ----, ----, 104 S.Ct. 2755, 2766-2767, 81 L.Ed.2d 660.) Beech was authorized by the FAA to act in accordance the "delegation option" procedure.

Under the doctrine of preemption, federal law prevails over state law if Congress has expressed an intent to occupy a given field in which federal law is supreme. But even if there is no such intent, state law is preempted if it conflicts with federal law so that it is impossible to comply with both, or if the state regulations stand as an obstacle to the accomplishment of the full purposes that Congress sought to achieve. (Pac. Gas & Elec. v. Energy Resources Comm'n. (1983) 461 U.S. 190, 203, 103 S.Ct. 1713, 1722, 75 L.Ed.2d 752.) Courts are reluctant to infer preemption, and it is the burden of the party claiming that Congress intended to preempt state law to prove it. (Exxon Corp. v. Governor of Maryland (1978) 437 U.S. 117, 132, 98 S.Ct. 2207, 2217, 57...