General Motors Corp. v. Hopkins

• Decision Date: 19 February 1976
• Docket Number: No. 16642,16642
• Citation: 535 S.W.2d 880
• Parties: GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION et al., Appellants, v. R. M. HOPKINS, Jr., Appellee. (1st Dist.)
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 880

535 S.W.2d 880

GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION et al., Appellants, v. R. M. HOPKINS, Jr., Appellee.

No. 16642.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas Houston (1st Dist.).

Feb. 19, 1976.

Rehearing Denied March 18, 1976.

Vinson, Elkins, Searls, Connally & Smith, B. Jeff Crane, Jr., Simon M. Frank, Daniel A. Hyde, Francis E. McGovern, Harry M. Reasoner, Eleanor S. Glass, Houston, for General Motors; Frazer F. Hilder, Thomas W. Watkins, Detroit, Mich., of counsel.

Vincent W. Rehmet, Houston, for appellant Bud Moore Chevrolet, Inc.; Barrow, Bland & Rehmet, Houston, of counsel.

Kronzer, Abraham & Watkins, W. W. Watkins, W. James Kronzer, Houston, for appellee.

EVANS, Justice.

This is a products liability case. The appellee, Robert M. Hopkins, Jr., suffered severe neck injuries, which rendered him a quadriplegic while riding as a passenger in a 1970 Chevrolet pick-up truck being driven by his friend, James Roy Averyt. The truck in question had been purchased by Hopkins from appellant Bud Moore Chevrolet, Inc. approximately eleven months prior to the date of the accident. It was equipped with a quadrajet carburetor designed and manufactured by appellant General Motors Corporation. It is Hopkins' contention that by reason of the defective design of the quadrajet carburetor, the vehicle continued to accelerate in speed notwithstanding Averyt's release of the accelerator pedal.

On jury findings that the carburetor was defectively designed and that such defect was a producing cause of the occurrence, the trial court entered judgment against appellants, General Motors Corporation and Bud Moore Chevrolet, Inc., jointly and severally, for the total sum of $1,760,000.00. It was also adjudged that Bud Moore Chevrolet have judgment against General Motors for full indemnification. Bud Moore Chevrolet has adopted in full General Motors' nine points of error.

In its first four points of error General Motors attacks the legal and factual sufficiency of the evidence to support the jury's findings of defective design and producing cause. In reviewing its legal sufficiency points we have considered only the evidence and inferences therefrom which support the jury's findings. In reviewing its factual sufficiency points we have considered all of the evidence.

The accident occurred on June 11, 1971, about 9:30 p.m. In the late afternoon of that day 19 year old Robbie Hopkins had driven his pick-up truck from Houston to Port Bolivar in Galveston County, Texas, for the purpose of transporting certain work tools to his family's cottage. He was accompanied by his friend, James Roy Averyt. Shortly prior to the accident, Averyt and Hopkins decided to return to Houston by taking the Galveston Ferry from Port Bolivar. Averyt drove the truck (with Hopkins as passenger) from the Hopkins cottage to Overton Street, then turned right on Overton and proceeded through Port Bolivar at approximately 35 miles per hour. At and end of Overton Street the road curved sharply to the left and there was a single lane wooden bridge over a water crossing. Averyt testified that in order to negotiate this curve and bridge he shifted down to second gear and slowed to a speed of 10 to 20 miles per hour. After crossing the bridge Averyt proceeded along Old Frenchtown Road which at that time and location was shelled, bumpy and 'real rough.' There was a straight stretch of Old Frenchtown Road 250 to 300 yards in length from the bridge crossing to a sharp 90 curve to the right where the accident happened. Averyt testified that on this stretch of road he accelerated to a speed of 30 to 35 miles per hour but did not shift from second to third gear. In order to pick up speed Averyt punched down on the accelerator pedal and then let up on it. He punched it again 'just . . . maybe jacking around' and let up on it again, expecting the truck to 'gear itself down.' At this point he was 'coming into the curve' and the vehicle 'just jumped away.' He made an attempt to apply the brakes and clutch but was unable to control the vehicle. The truck proceeded on its straight path through the curve and after leaving the road turned over several times. Averyt testified that when he depressed the clutch he heard 'a loud roar of the engine.' Averyt was thrown from the vehicle and suffered a leg injury. Hopkins' neck was broken by the impact of turning over and he had to be removed from the floor board of the vehicle. Hopkins testified he became alarmed when he could see they were going too fast to make the curve. He said he looked over at Averyt and that Averyt looked 'at me as if I were doing it.' He said Averyt looked 'lost, completely bewildered.' Hopkins said he then looked down at the floor board and saw that Averyt's foot wasn't even on the accelerator. Hopkins said he dove across the seat and put his hand on the accelerator to try 'to jiggle it' believing it was stuck and then he heard the engine 'really take off.' It sounded 'like an airplane taking off.' He said he then reached for the ignition ket but was unable to turn it off in time to avoid the accident.

The quadrajet carburetor is a complex assembly of related parts, the collective function of which is to supply a proper mixture of air and gasoline into the engine's combustion chamber. As the name 'quadrajet' implies, there are four passages or 'barrels' through which the flow of air is directed. This air flow is controlled by certain 'butterfly' type valves which are opened and closed according to varying engine conditions. Generally speaking, the greater the amount of air and gasoline which flow through this system and the greater the ratio of air-to-gasoline, the higher degree of efficiency and acceleration achieved. For cruising and lower driving speeds, only the two 'primary' valves are activated. The driver may, however, obtain additional bursts of power, as when passing another vehicle, by sharply depressing the accelerator pedal and thus activating the two 'secondary' valves. In order to prevent the 'secondaries' from opening at unintended times, as when the engine is idling, the quadrajet carburetor utilizes an external 'lock-out' system. Simply stated, the 'secondaries' are 'locked out' (i.e., maintained in a closed position) by a pivoting lock-out pin which is attached to the secondary valves. This pin rotates and except when driving conditions require opening of the secondary valves, the pin is positioned or 'locked' under the 'lock-out lever.' Both the lock-out pin and the lock-out lever are located outside the carburetor housing and are not encased within the enclosure. Thus, these parts are not protected from the elements and may be seen by looking under the hood of the engine. It is essentially Hopkins' contention that by reason of the defective design of the carburetor assembly, the lock-out pin was permitted to 'hang' on top of the lock-out lever with the secondaries open, instead of returning to its position below the lever, so that the secondaries became 'locked open' and the vehicle continued to accelerate in speed notwithstanding Averyt's release of the accelerator pedal.

General Motors contends that there is no evidence in the record from which the jury could have found that the design of the quadrajet carburetor created an unreasonable risk of harm. It argues that out of some 15,000,000 such carburetors designed and manufactured, some 3,000,000, of which were equipped with a lock-out system of the type installed on the Hopkins vehicle, the claim of defective design asserted by Hopkins is unique and that all of the credible evidence conclusively shows that the system could not have malfunctioned as Hopkins claims.

In our opinion there is evidence in the record which would support the jury's findings that the carburetor was defectively designed and that such defect was a producing cause of the occurrence.

There was testimony that several weeks prior to the accident, Hopkins, while driving the truck, had a similar experience. On that occasion Hopkins had turned onto Fulton Street in Houston, Texas. Riding as a passenger with him was his friend, Roy Averyt. Hopkins testified that when he pushed down on the accelerator to obtain speed and then released the pedal, the truck's speed did not decrease, but instead the truck took off 'in a roar.' Since he was on a straight stretch of road, Hopkins was able to bring the truck to a stop by applying his clutch and brake. He and Averyt then dismounted from the truck and were examining the engine, when they were noticed by a mechanic, William Prime, who was also a friend of Hopkins, who happened to be driving along Fulton Street. Prime stopped his car and after determining that the accelerator linkage was functioning in a normal manner, suggested that Averyt get in the truck and start the engine. When Averyt started the engine it began to race notwithstanding Prime's manual operation of the accelerator linkage. Averyt then turned off the ignition and Prime again examined the engine to determine the cause of the problem. During this examination, Hopkins asked Prime whether the fact that the lock-out pin was positioned on top of the lock-out lever could be the cause, although Hopkins was not then aware of the function of such parts or their correct names. Prime then worked the accelerator linkage back and forth a number of times and the lock-out pin returned to its position below the lock-out lever. Prime testified he was unable to make the pin 'hang' again on top of the lever but that before he manually released the pin from its position on top of the lever, he looked down the carburetor barrels and noticed that the secondaries were partially opened.

After the accident Prime went out to the Hopkins house to look at the truck for the specific purpose of determining whether the secondary valves in the carburetor were open. He testified that when he first looked at the carburetor, the lock-out pin was positioned on top of the lock-out lever and the...