Gryc v. Dayton-Hudson Corp.
| Decision Date | 20 October 1980 |
| Docket Number | 49525.,No. 49334,49334 |
| Citation | 297 NW 2d 727 |
| Parties | Lee Ann GRYC, by her mother and natural guardian, Jacquelyn Gryc, and Jacquelyn Gryc, individually, Respondents, v. DAYTON-HUDSON CORP. et al., Defendants, Riegel Textile Corp., Appellant. |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Jardine, Logan & O'Brien, Donald M. Jardine and Kent E. Charpentier, St. Paul, Peterson, Holtze & Treat, Robert C. Holtze, and Todd M. Henshaw, Minneapolis, for appellant.
Webster, Baldwin & Williams, Richard Baldwin, and John F. Cook, St. Paul, for Gryc; David G. Owen, University of South Carolina, Columbia, S. C., of counsel.
James R. Tschida, St. Paul, Gustafson, Gustafson & Adams and Ronald L. Snelling, Edina, for respondents.
Heard, considered, and decided by the court en banc.
Certiorari Denied October 20, 1980. See 101 S.Ct. 320.
On December 8, 1969, Lee Ann Gryc, then 4 years of age, was clothed in pajamas made from a cotton material manufactured by defendant Riegel Textile Corporation (Riegel). The material was commercially known as "flannelette." It was not treated but did meet the minimum federal standards of product flammability. Lee Ann reached across the electric stove in her home to shut off a timer. Her pajamas were instantly ignited and she received severe burns over her upper body. The jury found Riegel liable for these injuries and awarded Lee Ann $750,000 in compensatory damages and $1,000,000 in punitive damages. We affirm.
At the time of the incident, the Gryc family consisted of Gerry Gryc, his wife Jacquelyn, and their two children, Tammy, age 6, and Lee Ann, age 4. On the morning of December 8, 1969, Jacquelyn Gryc, after sending Tammy to school, began doing housework around her home. She was cooking various items on three burners of an electric stove. Just prior to the accident, she set a timer situated above the stove and went down into the basement to do some laundry. At that time, Lee Ann was watching television in the living room. She was clothed in pajamas, the fabric of which was 100 percent untreated cotton flannelette manufactured by Riegel. Gerry Gryc had just risen and was getting dressed in an upstairs bedroom.
It appears that, at approximately 9:30, the timer on the stove went off, Lee Ann went into the kitchen, pulled a chair over to the stove, climbed onto it, reached above the stove, and turned off the timer. Her pajama top came in contact with a lighted burner and ignited. Her parents then heard Lee Ann scream. Jacquelyn, who had been proceeding up the back stairway to turn off the timer, ran up the stairs and saw Lee Ann standing near the top of the stairs. Lee Ann's pajama top was engulfed in flames. Jacquelyn grabbed a towel, wrapped it around Lee Ann, and extinguished the flames. It was estimated that the pajama top burned for 8 to 12 seconds before it was extinguished. Gerry Gryc ran downstairs and immediately drove Lee Ann to a nearby hospital.
Lee Ann remained in the hospital through January 1970. As a result of the incident, she suffered severe second- and third-degree burns and resultant scars on 20 percent of her body in the regions of her arms, chest, breasts, stomach, back, neck, and chin. During her hospitalization, Lee Ann underwent skin grafting procedures. Lee Ann has additional scars on her thighs as a result of these procedures. Lee Ann's scars are permanent — her appearance cannot be improved through plastic surgery.
At trial, plaintiffs contended and presented evidence which tended to prove that the fabric used in the Gryc pajamas was defective. They claimed and their evidence tended to show that: (1) the cotton flannelette was unreasonably dangerous for use in children's sleepwear because of its highly flammable characteristics; (2) there were commercially available durable flame retardant chemicals which could have significantly increased the safety of the product; (3) there were inherently flame retardant synthetics which could have been used for children's sleepwear instead of cotton flannelette; (4) garment manufacturers, sellers, and consumers should have been warned of the flammable characteristics of the cotton flannelette; and (5) consumers should have been instructed of a simple home remedy which could have been used to flame retard the fabric after each washing.
Riegel defended the action by attempting to prove that the cotton flannelette was not unreasonably dangerous because: (1) it complied with the federal Flammable Fabrics Act; (2) no warning was necessary since cotton flannelette contained only normal and obvious hazards; and (3) the state of the art during the relevant time period was such that there were no chemical durable flame retardant chemicals available for use on cotton flannelette which would not negatively affect the fabric and make it unsaleable, and there were no available inherently retardant synthetics for use in children's sleepwear.
The pajamas worn by Lee Ann were two-piece, loose-fitting, and the pajama top flared out at the waist. The flannelette used in the pajamas was manufactured by Riegel and distributed to defendant Style Undies, Inc., on or before August 31, 1967. An employee of defendant Associated Merchandising Corporation (AMC) contacted Style Undies, Inc., about producing cotton flannelette sleepwear for children. The employee of AMC selected the fabric and design of the pajamas. After Style Undies, Inc., manufactured the pajamas, AMC distributed them to its member store, defendant Dayton-Hudson Corporation. Jacquelyn Gryc bought the pajamas at a Dayton-Hudson store in the summer or fall of 1969.
The flannelette used in Lee Ann's pajamas was woven material made from yarns spun from natural cotton fiber. The fabric was brushed on one side which created a nap. Flannelette is light weight, warm, and absorbent. It has a soft feel or "hand", breathes well, and is launderable and durable. It is relatively inexpensive. Flannelette was very popular during the relevant time period because of these qualities and was the dominant fabric used in children's winter sleepwear.
The flannelette used in Lee Ann's pajamas was not treated with any flame retardant. Its flammable characteristics were demonstrated by one of plaintiffs' expert witnesses, Dr. Robert Johnson, by film at trial. Dr. Johnson reconstructed Lee Ann's accident by making a copy of Lee Ann's pajamas, placing them on a mannequin the size of Lee Ann, and using an ignition source similar to the Gryc electric burner. The film showed that the fabric ignited instantaneously when the hem of the pajama top was placed in contact with the ignition source. The front of the pajama top burned from hem to neck in 4 to 5 seconds. The same experiment was performed on a pair of pajamas of the same design but constructed of newsprint. The newsprint pajamas burned only slightly faster than did the untreated flannelette pajamas.
Plaintiffs' experts concluded that the untreated cotton flannelette was unreasonably dangerous for use in children's sleepwear because of the instantaneous manner in which the fabric ignited, the speed at which it burned, the amount of heat produced when it burned, and the difficulty of extinguishing the flames. Defendant's experts characterized these burning characteristics as "normal" for the mass of the fabric and as a "natural" phenomenon for cotton, the characteristics of which had not changed for hundreds of years. They concluded, therefore, that the fabric used in the Gryc pajamas was not defective.
The bulk of the testimony at trial concerned the state of the art with respect to flame-retardant processes at the time the fabric used in the Gryc pajamas was manufactured. It was not seriously disputed at trial that there were products available from the early 1950's through 1967 which were capable of being applied to lightweight cotton flannelette which would flame retard the fabric and which were durable, i. e., would remain on the fabric through 50 washings. These products were manufactured by various companies and were identified at trial by various trade names — Proban, Pyrovatix, Roxel, and Lynrus FR-1. All of these products were made from the chemical tetrakis hydromethyl phosphonium chlorida (THPC).
It was shown at trial that the safety of cotton flannelette could be significantly increased by applying this type of product to the fabric. Dr. Johnson, by film, demonstrated the flammable characteristics of flame retarded cotton flannelette. He created a pair of pajamas like those which Lee Ann had worn, except that they were treated with a flame-retardant process available in 1967. The pajamas were placed against a heat source similar to an electric burner for 30 seconds. The pajamas blackened, burned, and charred but did not flame in an area 6 inches wide and 8 inches long in that 30 seconds. When the fabric was removed from the heat source, the blackening and charring stopped.
The serious dispute between the experts concerned the availability of flame-retardant processes during the relevant time period which would not destroy the desirable characteristics of cotton flannelette. Plaintiffs' experts testified that, as early as 1962, there were flame-retardant processes which could be applied to the fabric without adversely affecting its qualities enough to make it unsaleable. Plaintiffs also showed that, in England, flannelette-like sleepwear was required by law to be flame retarded since the 1950's.
Defendant's experts were of the opposite view. They testified that there were no durable flame retardant chemicals which could be applied to the fabric without severely reducing its tensile and tear strength, its soft feel, increasing its weight and cost, and adversely affecting the color of the fabric.
Plaintiffs' witnesses admitted that there were no mills producing flame retarded flannelette for public consumption in any volume in 1967. However, both of plaintif...
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