Ford Motor Company v. Mondragon

• Decision Date: 10 November 1959
• Docket Number: 16207.,No. 16206,16206
• Citation: 271 F.2d 342
• Parties: FORD MOTOR COMPANY, Appellant, v. Loreto MONDRAGON, Appellee. FORD MOTOR COMPANY, Appellant, v. FARMERS INSURANCE EXCHANGE, by Farmers Underwriters Association, Attorney-in-Fact, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

271 F.2d 342 (1959)

FORD MOTOR COMPANY, Appellant, v. Loreto MONDRAGON, Appellee.

FORD MOTOR COMPANY, Appellant, v. FARMERS INSURANCE EXCHANGE, by Farmers Underwriters Association, Attorney-in-Fact, Appellee.

Nos. 16206, 16207.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

November 10, 1959.

Sherwin J. Markman and A. Arthur Davis, Des Moines, Iowa (Brody, Parker, Miller, Roberts & Thoma, Des Moines Iowa, was with them on the brief), for appellant.

James A. Lorentzen, Des Moines, Iowa (Frank S. Fillmore, Des Moines, Iowa, was with him on the brief), for appellees.

Before WOODROUGH, VAN OOSTERHOUT, and MATTHES, Circuit Judges.

VAN OOSTERHOUT, Circuit Judge.

The two civil actions here involved, based upon established diversity of citizenship jurisdiction, arise out of essentially the same facts. The actions were consolidated for trial and were tried to a jury. The jury returned a verdict for plaintiff in each action. Defendant's motions for directed verdict and for judgment n. o v. were overruled. Defendant has appealed from final judgments entered upon the verdicts.

Mondragon, plaintiff in Case No. 16,206, purchased a new 1955 Ford Thunderbird, manufactured by the defendant, through a San Francisco, California, Ford dealer, receiving delivery thereof at defendant's factory in Dearborn, Michigan, on September 16, 1955. He drove his car to Chicago that night. On the morning of September 20, he left Chicago, driving his car west toward his home in San Francisco. A collision occurred about 4:30 o'clock P.M. that day between Mondragon's Ford and an automobile owned and operated by one Herman Wiggins at a sharp curve on highway 30 just west of Jefferson, Iowa.

Farmers Insurance Exchange, plaintiff in Case No. 16,207, carried liability insurance on Mondragon's automobile, and paid Wiggins and the occupants of his car $10,393.33 in settlement of claims they asserted against Mondragon. It is stipulated that such damages were properly paid. Farmers Insurance Exchange claims indemnity for such payment. It appears to be undisputed that the rights of Farmers Insurance Exchange on its claim are dependent upon the rights of Mondragon against the defendant, and, if Mondragon is not entitled to judgment, Farmers Insurance Exchange is not entitled to judgment.

Both plaintiffs claim that the collision was caused by defective brakes and safety equipment on the car sold to Mondragon, which defects were unknown to him, and assert liability against the defendant on the theories of negligence and implied warranty.

Defendant in its answer to each division of each of the causes of action specifically denied that Mondragon purchased the automobile from the defendant, that defendant was in any way negligent in the manufacture and delivery of said automobile, that said automobile had defective brakes at any time prior to the collision, that if any defect in the brakes existed said defect proximately caused the collision, and that Mondragon was free from contributory negligence.

Many substantial errors are urged as bases for reversal. If the defendant is correct in its contention that the court erred in overruling its motions for directed verdict, the other errors urged need not be considered. We shall, therefore, first consider the directed verdict issue.

The defendant by its answers raised the issue that the automobile was not purchased directly from the defendant, but was purchased from one of its dealers. Apparently this was for the purpose of asserting that the purchaser could not recover from the manufacturer because of lack of privity. However, defendant in its reply brief concedes that it would be liable to the ultimate purchaser for any negligence in the manufacture or testing of its automobile. Defendant states:

"Appellees plaintiffs cite numerous decisions establishing the law that an automobile manufacturer may be liable to an ultimate purchaser for a negligently manufactured product. With this law appellant defendant has no quarrel."

Because of this concession a prolonged discussion on the subject of manufacturer liability would appear to be unnecessary. This court recently, in Ford Motor Co. v. Zahn, 265 F.2d 729, had occasion to consider the problem of the liability of the manufacturer. We there stated the scope of the manufacturer's liability as follows (at page 731):

"By force of law there is imposed upon the manufacturer of an article for sale or use the duty to exercise reasonable care to prevent defective conditions caused by a miscarriage in the manufacturing process. This duty requires reasonable skill and care in the process of manufacture and for reasonable inspection or tests to discover defects. Supporting authorities are cited."

Defendant in its motion for directed verdict made in each case at the close of the evidence and renewed after verdict urged that the plaintiffs were not entitled to recover because they had failed to prove that the defendant was negligen in any respect charged, that the evidence showed that plaintiff Mondragon was not free from contributory negligence, and that plaintiffs had failed to establish that the negligence, if any, on the part of the defendant was the proximate cause of the injuries complained of.¹

The motions for directed verdict, including the renewal of the motion after verdict, were overruled. Timely appeal was taken from the judgment entered in each case.

The vital question in these cases is whether there is any substantial evidence to support a conclusion that any negligence which may have been established on the part of the defendant was the proximate cause of the injury and damage to the plaintiffs. Serious questions arise on the issue of any negligence on the part of the defendant, and on the freedom from contributory negligence issue, but we shall assume for the purpose of this appeal, without so deciding, that plaintiffs have made a jury question on such issues.

In order to recover for negligence the burden is upon the plaintiffs to prove that the alleged negligence is the proximate cause of their injury. In Fanelli v. Illinois Central R. Co., 246 Iowa, 661, 666, 69 N.W.2d 13, 19, the rule is thus stated:

"* * * mere negligence which appears to have no causal connection with the injury is not actionable. It must appear that the injury was the natural and probable consequence of the negligence, wrongful act, or breach of duty. * * *"

In Brewer v. Johnson, 247 Iowa 483, 72 N.W.2d 556, 558, the court states, "To be actionable, the negligence must be a proximate cause of the injury."

Before considering the evidence we shall discuss the test to be applied in determining the sufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict. The question of whether state or federal law controls in diversity cases on the issue of the sufficiency of the evidence to support a verdict has not been decided by the Supreme Court. Courts of appeal are not in agreement on this problem. Dick v. New York Life Ins. Co., 359 U.S. 437, 444-445, 79 S.Ct. 921, 3 L.Ed.2d 935. Our present case was tried by all parties on the basis that Iowa law controls. Under such circumstances, particularly where the state and federal standards are substantially alike, the Dick case advises that no determination be made on the question of the applicable law.

The evidence in our present case bearing on the proximate cause issue is all circumstantial. The Iowa rule with reference to the test of the sufficiency of circumstantial evidence to support a verdict has been liberalized in recent years. Iowa has abandoned the "exclusion of every other hypothesis rule" and now follows the "more reasonably probable rule." Soreide v. Vilas & Co., 247 Iowa 1139, 78 N.W.2d 41, 43; Bokhoven v. Hull, 247 Iowa 604, 75 N.W.2d 225, 227; Little v. Watkins Motor Lines, 8 Cir., 256 F.2d 145, 149; Guyer v. Elger, 8 Cir., 216 F.2d 537, 539. The federal cases just cited involve the Iowa law. In the Bokhoven case, the court states (75 N.W.2d at page 227):

"* * * we are firmly committed to the rule that plaintiff\'s theory of causation need not be proved by evidence so clear as to exclude every other possible theory. The evidence must be such as to make that theory reasonably probable, not merely possible, and more probable than any other hypothesis based on such evidence. * * *"

It would appear that the test of the sufficiency of circumstantial evidence under federal law would be substantially the same. Pennsylvania R. Co. v. Chamberlain, 288 U.S. 333, 339, 53 S.Ct. 391, 77 L.Ed. 819; Adair v. Reorganization Inv. Co., 8 Cir., 125 F.2d 901, 905; Cudahy Packing Co. v. N. L. R. B., 8 Cir., 116 F.2d 367, 371. In the Adair case, at page 905 of 125 F.2d, the court quotes from the Cudahy case as follows:

"`It is not necessary in establishing a necessary fact by circumstantial evidence that a party upon whom the burden of proof rests shall present evidence to dispel all contradictory inferences. It is necessary, however, that such party produce evidence of facts and circumstances which may be accepted by the trier of the fact as establishing with reasonable certainty the truth of the inference contended for.\'"

The court then continues:

"If the proven facts give equal support to each of two inconsistent inferences then judgment must go against the party upon whom rests the necessity of sustaining one of these inferences. The essential inference cannot be left to conjecture and speculation. * * *"

The task of applying the law as above stated to the evidence remains. We must, of course, observe the well established rule that the party in whose favor judgment has been entered is entitled to have the evidence viewed in the light most favorable to him, and is entitled to the benefit of all inferences that may reasonably be drawn from the evidence.

There is disputed evidence from which a jury could find that the fuel line on the car was installed too close to the brake fluid line, and that by reason thereof such lines at times could...